Compassion
by K.D. Salmon
Summary: What if in a different universe Tom Riddle Jr was born of a drunken one night stand rather than conceived under the effects of a love potion? What if he was able to understand love and feel compassion and empathy for the people around him? Instead of building a power base he builds alliances, instead of scared followers and flunkies he gains devoted friends.
1. First Year Blues: Wool's Orphanage

Tom Riddle was hiding in one of the overgrown bushes behind Wool's Orphanage. There was a small stretch of yellow and patchy green overgrown grass on each side of the building before it hit the wrought iron gates that walled them in. Usually, he avoided going outside. It was either too hot or too cold, and there wasn't enough grass to actually play or do anything useful and he wasn't even certain why the random plots of grass existed and hadn't been paved over like the street outside. He supposed because it would cost money to do so, and instead they were left to grow into their standard mess.

Harrison Denton was calling his name tauntingly, and the snake that had wrapped itself around his palm shivered at the sound. Tom ran his thumb over the smooth scales absent-mindedly as he focused on staying as still as possible. The older boy had been kicking the snake and Tom had heard its pitiful cries and darted outside and swept it up before Denton could react. And while Tom was fast, he wasn't as fast as Denton, whose legs were almost as long as he was tall. The boy had shot up like a weed, in Ms. Cole's words, the summer before and had been a terror ever since.

"Safe," The snake hissed quietly and Tom blinked and listened for any noises, but Denton's footsteps had faded and outside of the hot wind that was whistling between the buildings, it was quiet. He slowly untangled himself from the bush, letting the snake climb into the front pocket of his shirt as he did, wary of making too much noise in case Denton was still around. He knew the boy was almost to his majority and he couldn't wait to be rid of him. He and his lackey, John McBride, were easily the worst people at the orphanage, though not many others were better. Some of the girls could be nice, especially if they wanted him to sneak them extra food from the cupboard, and the little ones who didn't think he was pretending when he talked to snakes liked it when he told them to give them licks or make little pictures by contorting their bodies.

"Sorry about him," He said to the snake, but it just made a noncommittal noise, an acknowledgement, but nothing more to say to the human. "Do you want me to drop you off outside the gates?" He asked instead, hissing quietly. Even though he was sure that Denton had gone, that didn't mean one of the other kids weren't hanging around, ready to tease him about playing pretend games with his snakes.

"Yess," the snake hissed pleasantly, "Pleasse." Tom smirked slightly, a joke between him and many of the snakes that lived around the orphanage. When he'd been younger, a little child himself, he'd scolded them, playing at being an adult himself, and had informed the snakes they ought to say please and thanks. It was only the polite thing to do, as Ms. Cole always told them. He walked closer to the side of the building, hiding in its shade, the grass and gravel crunching under his worn shoes. He could hear voices up the road and the sound of several cars on the street. None of the kids though.

"Do you have another snake, Tom?" A voice asked and he froze when he saw Amy Benson. She was only a year older than him and was a nuisance. When he was younger she'd liked his snakes, but now she was scream or squeal when she saw them if she thought it would get her attention from the other older boys.

"No," he said easily, and the snake in his front pocket smartly stayed still.

"You're lying," She said in a singsong voice, "I heard you doing your hissing thing, is it in your pocket?" His throat started to close, but she pointed at the pocket of his pants and he smirked and shook his head.

He reached into the loose, secondhand trousers and pulled the pockets out slightly, enough to prove there was no snake, "I'm sorry," he said, his voice falsely sweet, "Did you want me to get one for you?"

She stuck her tongue out and turned on her heel, stomping up to the doors of the Orphanage that were propped open. It was too hot for them to be closed, and he could hear more voices from inside. He waited until she was completely gone and stuck his head out of the gates, looking both ways to make sure Denton wasn't around before sprinting out, heading for the small patch of green several buildings up.

"Humans are stupid," He hissed quietly to the snake, pulling him gently out from the pocket of his shirt. "Be glad you don't have to live with them."

"They have good scrapss," The snake countered, slowly wrapping around his hand.

Tom let out the first real smile he'd had in a few days and nodded his head. "Yeah, Ms. Hammond from the bakery gave me a biscuit last week, I think it was the sweetest thing I've ever eaten."

"I like mice," the snake said, and Tom shook his head, still smiling.

"Here you are," he hissed more quietly this time, stepping onto the empty lot. It had been an apartment building but it was condemned and part of the first floor had begun to crumble and the grass was taking over. It was a safer place to release the snakes to than the bushes by the Orphanage if he could. The snake slowly unwound and slithered to the ground. "Watch out for Denton from now on." He instructed seriously, before putting his hands on his knees and pushing himself back up.

His friend was already gone and he turned back to the Orphanage and made a face. He didn't particularly want to go back- the ceiling fan in the boys' room was broken and it was horribly hot, and all of the littlest kids would be playing with Mrs. Garter in the main living area, singing songs about the alphabet or numbers- whatever she'd thought up. If he stayed outside, however, he'd likely run into Denton again.

And Amy had gone back inside, so it was very possible that Dennis Bishop was also in there and while he was nice sometimes, he did whatever Amy asked him to do, including making fun of Tom, and didn't stop her if she tripped him and pour ink on his clothes. He couldn't wait for school to start up again. It had only just ended and he hated it. At least with school he had to go and be there for almost the entire day, five days of the week, and even then his teacher usually let him stay past the bell and read the books she kept on the shelves. He even enjoyed cleaning the chalkboard and erasers, or sweeping the ground. Miss Franklin was nice to him and hanging around her meant no one bothered him, and he was able to avoid the Orphanage for just a little longer each day.

Lost in thought, he absent-mindedly reached his hand into his pocket and retrieved the small knife Jack Blount had given him to whittle with. He started back towards the Orphanage, turning the knife over in his hands. Jack was working with the grocer, so he wouldn't be home until dark. Maybe instead he could practice on some branches from the bushes he'd been hiding in? Jack had shown him a little figure of a bird he'd made before he'd given Tom the knife. Amy had whined loudly about it until he's finally given it to her. Tom had been annoyed at first, but then Jack gave him the knife and told him that if he practiced, Jack would show him how to make a dog instead.

He broke the branches off and wandered back inside, staying clear of the room of younger kids and instead moving quietly on the stairs. The door to the room he shared with the boys closer to his age was almost shut and he slowly pushed it open, poking his head inside to make sure he wasn't walking into a trap.

"Hey," A voice hissed.

Tom frowned and instinctively started to withdraw from the room.

"Close the door!" The voice hissed and Tom was about to, willing to comply and not piss off whichever boy was in the room, but his curiosity got the better of him. It wasn't Denton's or McBride's voice, so he didn't think whoever it was would pummel him instantly. He slipped inside and closed the door behind him. No one was immediately visible and he frowned as he looked around the room. The only window was shut and it was hot and stuffy.

"Is Cole comin' up?" The voice hissed. Tom turned and saw Billy Stubbs, sitting on the floor by his bed. Billy was twelve and also going through a growth spurt, and his brown hair was soaked with sweat from sitting in the hot room.

Tom shook his head and Billy breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, good."

"Why's the window closed?" Tom asked, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder.

"You have to promise not to tell," Billy said, a warning in his voice, and Tom shrugged his shoulders. He and Billy got on well enough, not poorly but they weren't friends either. Not that Tom had any friends- Jack was probably the closest thing to it at Wool's, but Billy was okay, for the most part.

"Sure," he said, but Billy shook his head stubbornly.

"Nah mate," He said, "You have to say you promise."

Tom rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Fine, I promise not to tell." Not that he even knew what he was promising not to tell, but he humored the other boy.

Billy looked back and forth dramatically and then reached under the bed and pulled out something.

Tom's brows drew together in confusion and he stepped forward until he was closer, staring at the little creature. "Is that a rabbit?" He asked. He'd never actually seen one up close. Well, once he'd seen one at the market in a cage, but Mrs. Cole hadn't let him go over to look at it and pet it like the other kids in the market had been doing.

"Yeah," Billy said, carefully running his hand over the creatures back.

It was small- smaller than the rabbit that Tom had seen in the cage. The eleven year old sat down on the ground in front of Billy, watching it. "It's kind of small, ain't it?" Tom asked.

"I think it's a baby," Billy said, picking it up and folding his legs before setting it down in his lap. The rabbit promptly tried to burrow into the boy's pant leg and Tom snorted as Billy struggled to keep it in hand.

"Where'd you get it?" Tom asked once the rabbit was calm, sitting in the fabric of Billy's shirt.

"In the graveyard by the church," Billy said, still staring at the rabbit, "I think it was hurt, it wasn't walking too good and it was crying- have you ever heard a rabbit cry?" he asked suddenly, looking up at Tom.

Tom shook his head and Billy nodded, "It was right sad. He cries whenever I leave him."

"How long have you had him?" Tom asked, a bit confused. He was fairly certain he'd notice a rabbit in the room, and if he hadn't, one of his snakes would have.

"I hid him in that one storage cupboard in the church for the last week," Billy explained, "But Father Murphy is going out of town to see that one church opening up in Basingstoke, so the back rooms will be all locked up while he's gone and I wouldn't be able to feed him." Tom and Billy sat in silence, the pair petting the rabbit quietly. They froze when they heard footsteps on the landing and both stared at the door, but whoever it was went to one of the other rooms.

"Are you going to tell Mrs. Cole?" Tom asked, the silence broken.

"I'mma have to," Billy said quietly, "If I don't Denton will find him and step on him, the prat."

"Maybe you could ask the grocer Jack's working with if you could help?" Tom suggested, "You'd make enough to get a little cage and pay for food- Mrs. Cole couldn't chuck him if you're taking care of him, right?"

Billy nodded his head thoughtfully, "Yeah, I'll do that, do you still have that box under your bed?"

Tom nodded and went to his own bed, the bottom bunk by the only bookcase in the room and dropped to the floor, grabbing for the small wooden box. It was far too nice and looked out of place in the orphanage. He only had it because someone had chucked it into the bins nearby and he'd seen it and saved it from the trash. It had been scuffed, paint had gotten on it, and the hinges had been broken, but he'd gotten them off and cleaned it up the best he could. It didn't have much in it, some buttons- the only thing he had left from his mother, some wrinkled news articles and a couple books and other knick knacks he'd saved from the trash. There was also a ball he'd stolen from Denton a few weeks before (just to spite the older boy), and a few dried flowers some of the little kids had picked for him back in the spring.

He unceremoniously upturned the box on his bunk and then brought the box over to Billy.

"It doesn't have holes," he said, showing Billy the lid.

"It's fine," He said, placing the small rabbit inside. "Works well enough for now." He pushed himself to his feet and paused, looking Tom up and down. "Hey, actually… Can you keep an eye on him?" He asked, holding the box out.

Tom blinked and took it, looking down at the little rabbit inside.

"You hang out in here a lot so it won't be weird for you to keep an eye on him- I'm going to see if I can find a better box or cage to put him in, and then I'll ask Mrs. Cole about keeping him," Billy explained, grabbing his boots and sitting on his bed to pull them on.

Tom reached out and touched the soft fur of the rabbit and then nodded his head. "Yeah, sure."

"Thanks mate," Billy said, his second show finally on. He stood and patted Tom's shoulder, "Be back in a bit."

Tom stared at the rabbit and walked over to the bed. He was good at hiding things. A rabbit would be easy.


	2. First Year Blues: Yer a Wizard, Tom

It was a stormy summer's afternoon when a man by the name of Albus Dumbledore first looked upon Wool's Orphanage. It hadn't been hard to find and he could see many older children, obviously the product of the muggles' "great war" as he'd heard them calling it. They looked at him with a sort of innocent curiosity that only children could give, no matter how horrid their conditions or situation. Part of the man wanted to whisk them all away and make them happy, take them from this horrid place.

But he couldn't. Nonetheless, he offered them a small smile and stepped into the orphanage. A woman was berating a child that apparently muddied the floors and he waited patiently by the door before the woman took note of him, sending the child on their way.

"'Ello, now who are you?" The lady asked, putting her hands on her hips in irritation, booking a face that was stern enough to remind Albus of a particularly fierce dog. Instead of looking cowed, he simply increased his smile and held out a hand.

"Professor Dumbledore. Our institution sent a letter regarding Mr. Riddle's possible enrollment-" Despite the fact that she'd taken his hand cautiously and begun to shake it, she dropped it almost instantly once the words were out of his mouth and she shook her head.

"That's fine and dandy but like the rest of the lot here at Wool's, Tom don't have no money to afford to be heading off to any "institution" or the such and we said as much in the letter when we sent it back." She waved her hands, clearly intent on shooing the man back out the door, but the ginger man held fast and continued giving his most indulgent smile.

"Actually, the school would be willing to offer Mr. Riddle a scholarship of sorts, as well as aid in purchasing materials."

This seemed to bring the lady to a pause and she gave an impatient sigh and gestured to the stairs. "Fine, fine, he should be up this way in the room for the younger boys. Y'can call me Mrs. Cole, professir."

Albus merely gave another pleasant smile, adjusting his glasses as he chose to ignore the irritated manner she interacted with him, and her general silence as she led to one of the rooms gave him time to take in the halls and the rooms he passed after coming to the landing.

It wasn't so bad for an orphanage, considering how derelict and disheveled some orphanages could be. The floors appeared to have been mopped recently and while the walls lacked decoration or ornament of any kind, they were relatively clean and appeared to have been painted not too long ago. As the professor passed by the rooms, he could see beds stacked and dressers over pouring with clothes that hadn't been put away, some odd and broken toys on the ground, a few children playing with paper dolls. It was an orphanage after all, and he hadn't expected it to be a lively and happy home, but for the place it was, it could certainly have been worse.

Coming to a halt behind Mrs. Cole, he paused as she knocked on the closed door before opening it, peeking her head in only to open the door completely. "There's a man here t'see you Tom, put tha book away and try t'look smart." Mrs. Cole stepped from the doorway, leaving the professor to get a better look inside.

Like some of the ones he'd passed by in the hall, it was clearly shared by several boys, with bunk beds and some old dressers taking up the wall and floor space. One ragged bookcase took up the rest of the free room and the boy in question seem to have a worn tome in his hands, stretched out on his stomach on the bottom bunk of one of the beds. Albus gave another one of his trademark smiles, taking a few steps closer to the bed. This was the first time he'd seen Tom, of course, so he took in the sight of the boy that would likely be a future student of his. He was tall, perhaps a little taller than most boys at the ripe age of eleven, even if that did make him look a bit thin for a growing boy. At first glance you'd be stuck somewhere between believing the boy to be utterly plain, or intriguing edged on attractive. His black hair was combed back just so, and Albus caught sight of dark eyes that were watching him with a mixture of distrust and curiosity.

"Hello Tom." Albus lowered himself to take a seat on one of the lower beds that sat across from Tom's along the opposite wall.

Tom's large dark eyes blinked rather owlishly at him and he folded the corner of the book he was reading, closing it quietly before turning to give the older man his full attention. "Hello sir."

"Tom, I'm a professor at a school for people like you and I, and we were quite hoping you might come and study there."

Tom, for his part, just blinked at the older man. He looked to where Mrs. Cole had been in the doorway, but she had already drifted off, likely checking up on one of the other children or scolding someone. "Like what?" he said instead, looking back to the man.

Professor Dumbledore (which sounded like a fake name to Tom, like one from some of the fairy-tales) frowned and tilted his head questioningly. "What do you mean, like what?"

Tom raised his eyebrows. "You said, 'a school for people like you and I,' like what?" He said, parroting back the man's words to him.

Professor Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "Have you ever noticed you can do anything special?" He asked.

"I can do my multiplication faster than everyone in class," He said, just a bit cheekily. He didn't know the man, and whatever school he was here to represent, it wouldn't likely want anything to do with him. People like him, places like that, they weren't for poor orphan boys.

"I mean magic, Tom," the professor said.

Tom frowned and shook his head, ignoring the flutter in his chest. Sure, he'd done some stuff, but like Mrs. Cole always said, he had a good imagination, and no matter how much proof he offered, no one had ever believed he could actually talk to the snakes once they weren't little kids anymore. "Magic's not real, sir, everyone knows that."

Professor Dumbledore smiled and leaned forward, almost acting like he was going to tell Tom some grand secret. Tom didn't like it, didn't like the way the man was acting like he was one of the little kids that needed a nanny constantly hovering over them, too stupid to understand what was going on.

"Haven't you ever done anything special?" He pressed quietly, "Something that shouldn't be able to, something you couldn't explain or reason away?"

Tom frowned and looked at his hands in thought. If it was real, which, let's be honest, was too much to hope for, then he was fine telling the man the truth. If it was real, well, a few things could happen, he could be shipped off to one of the mental hospitals that they stuck crazy people in, or he could be sent to another orphanage, maybe they would say he was too crazy to be around the other kids?

"No," he said, with a shake of his head, "Why? Do you think you can do magic?"

The professor smiled at him and shrugged. "Do you want me to prove it?"

Tom nodded his head, feeling just a bit smug, still ignoring the hopeful fluttering in his chest.

Professor Dumbledore pulled a long stick out of his sleeve, and Tom watched as he delicately waved it. Several of the clothes that were hanging from the dresser drawers lifted. Tom's eyes widened in wonder as he watched the clothes fold themselves. The drawers pulled themselves open and the clothes gently deposited themselves down into their proper spots, and then the drawers closed and The dresser sat still.

Tom whipped his head around to stare at the older man and then jumped off the bed, darting to the dresser to look at it. It couldn't be real- it had to be a trick of some kind, right?

"Is that proof enough for you?" Professor Dumbledore asked cheerfully, twirling the stick in between his fingers, "Or shall we sort the bookcase by name too?"

Tom turned and looked back at him, still touching the dresser as if it would disappear if he let it go. "I can talk to snakes-" He said and before he could stop himself he continued, "And I can sometimes make stuff move- I can make Billy's rabbit listen to me, and once I accidentally set Amy's hair on fire after she pushed me down the front steps and scratched up my knee."

He stopped and closed his mouth. Professor Dumbledore was giving him an appraising look, like some of the teachers at the school did when he proved to be too smart at something or did something he wasn't supposed to be able to do for his age. "Mrs. Cole said I was imagining things," he added lamely.

"You weren't," The professor consoled, "Mrs. Cole is just a muggle- someone who can't do magic," he explained when Tom made a confused face. "That's why I've come to tell you about Hogwarts, it's a school for wizards and witches."

Tom shook his head, the balloon in his stomach suddenly deflating, "I haven't got any money to go to a proper school," he said, just a bit sullenly.

"You don't have to worry about that," Professor Dumbledore said, standing up. "The school has a fund for those who need assistance," he explained, pulling a thick envelope from his the inside of his suit jacket. He held it out to Tom and Tom greedily grabbed it up. "That's your acceptance letter, and the supply list inside has everything you need for your classes written on it."

Tom tried his best not to tune the older man out just a bit as he spoke, but he was rereading the words on the parchment paper for the third time, soaking them in. He looked to the second page that was behind the first and looked through the materials.

"Where would I get all this?" Tom asked the man, looking up and then back to the sheet. "Is there a special school shop, or place I need to go for it all?"

"Excellent question," Professor Dumbledore said, "There's a row of shops in London that muggles cannot see or get to, they should have everything you need."

"And… the school will pay for the supplies?" Tom asked again, still hesitant. It was all too good to be true, too amazing to be real.

"Yes, of course, though we will visit some of the secondhand stores for the robes and school books, they can get to be rather expensive," The professor explained.

Tom read through the list again and then stood up. "Can we go now then?" He asked, trying to contain his excitement.

Professor Dumbledore's smile widened, "I'm sorry my boy, I have other students I need to go see, more letters to deliver," He paused when he saw the look on Tom's face and patted the boy on the shoulder. "I usually schedule a time to make sure the student's parents come along as well, but we shan't bring Mrs. Cole along, so how about I return on Monday, and we shall take our trip then?"

Tom deflated a bit, but nodded his head slowly. "Are there other kids that don't know they're wizards?" he asked.

"Several, yes," Professor Dumbledore said with a nod, "We call them muggleborn, since they are born to muggles, and we explain it to them just like I came and explained it to you."

"Okay then," Tom said quietly, folding the paper delicately back and sliding it back into the envelope. "What time on Monday?"

"Not to be dissuaded, I see," the professor said, a slight twinkle in his eyes. Tom was quite certain he was the type of man who carried sweets in his pockets and patted children on their heads when they were being good. "Monday at nine, you can top off with breakfast and then we'll spend the rest of the day shopping."

Tom nodded his head more enthusiastically. "Yes, sir."

"Good," Professor Dumbledore held his hand out and Tom reached out, trying to grip the older man's hand as securely as he could. "Have a good weekend, Tom."


	3. First Year Blues: Diagonally

Tom was up Monday morning bright and early. He hadn't slept well at all through the weekend and had even less sleep the night before. He'd awoken and eaten his breakfast without complaint and completed all of the chores Mrs. Cole gave him. He was actually grateful for the work because he was genuinely nervous. Professor Dumbledore had spoken to Mrs. Cole about retrieving him to shop for supplies and retrieve school uniforms, but that hadn't banished the doubt in him that the wizard might not return. What if something more important happened? What if some other child with wealthier parents demanded they needed to go Monday, and the man left him waiting?

He paced the living area as the time slipped closer and closer to nine o'clock. Mrs. Cole had instructed him to wear his best Sunday clothes, telling him to make a good impression on the school that might pluck him out of the orphanage, and Tom was happy to comply. A few of the other older kids who had heard through the rumor mill were giving him annoyed looks, but he ignored them.

Before nine even hit he was waiting by the front gate, looking around the street, waiting for any sign of the professor. Did wizards drive cars? Or did they have something magical they used to transport them, he wondered. He tried to remember how people got around in the fairytales, but the only thing that came to mind immediately was a horse-drawn carriage or even a sleigh.

"Good morning, Tom."

Tom jerked around and blinked at the man who had appeared from out of nowhere at his side. "How did you-?"

"It's not quite nine yet," Professor Dumbledore said, looking at a pocketwatch before sliding it back into his pocket, "But then again, I shouldn't haven't expected any less, are you ready?"

"Yes sir," Tom said obediently, and looking past where the man stood, wondering if somehow a car had pulled up without his knowledge, but there was no car, not a carriage, nothing that the man seemed to have arrived in. "Can we leave now?"

"Of course," The older man said, stepping away from the gate. "Do you need to inform Mrs. Cole of your departure?"

"No sir," He said quickly, shaking his head, "I did all my chores and she told me I was free to go." Actually he'd seen the looks she was giving him while he had been pacing and had thought it best to clear out of her way before he annoyed her or got underfoot. "How will we get to the shops?" He questioned instead.

"They're not far, and the heat isn't quite so bad after all that rain," the professor said, looking towards the clear sky, "We shall walk, as long as that's alright with you?"

Tom nodded his head obediently. He'd wanted to see how the man had traveled since he knew he hadn't just walked up- he would have seen him, but he also didn't want to pester the man with questions. He knew once he reached these shops with supplies for a magical school there'd be a lot more.

When they set off, Tom hadn't known what to expect. He suspected either the shops were in some shadier part of London Mrs. Cole had never let him near in outings, or were hidden in plain sight in what appeared to be normal shops. The path they walked lead further into the heart of London and Tom shoved his hands in his trousers and tried to conceal his excitement and anxiety about the entire thing. Professor Dumbledore made small talk, and Tom answered any and all questions he asked of him. Did he enjoy muggle school? Did he get on well at the orphanage? Did he have any good friends he was close with? He kept his answers short, but polite, not wanting to bore the man, but also very aware of his own sad childhood, being an orphan.

When they hit Charing Cross Road and Professor Dumbledore told him they were nearly there, Tom frowned, ever so slightly. He'd been to Charing Cross plenty of times for short outings or to help Mrs. Cole or the cook pick up supplies or groceries. Were some of the shops hidden here? They paused next to an old book shop, which Tom supposed looked rather magic-like, but Professor Dumbledore didn't reach for the handle of the door. Instead, he went to the door beside it. He wanted to ask but kept his mouth closed, watching instead, his head tilted, his eyes on the man. Professor Dumbledore opened the old wooden door and held it open for Tom, who hesitantly stepped forward into the dark room.

It took Tom several moments a running a hand over his eyes until he was able to adjust to the dim candlelit room. He'd never been inside a pub before, but he'd seen through the windows and it very much looked like a pub. However there were several things that stood out to Tom immediately that told him that this was no normal pub.

There were large paintings and pictures hung on the wall, but they moved. One portrait was empty while two men in the portrait beside it were laughing and playing cards, and a small picture of dogs that hung by the door barked happily at him. The bartender was writing down an order while a pitcher floated beside him, pouring drinks for the people seated at the bar. A woman sitting and eating at one of the tables wore a large, droopy witch hat with only a large spotted cat- either a leopard or jaguar- to keep her company, occasionally taking meat she offered it from her plate. Professor Dumbledore placed his hand on Tom's shoulder and steered him past the bar and towards another door.

"Hello Albus," The barkeep said happily, "Another student to Diagon Alley?"

"Of course, George," Professor Dumbledore said, smiling, "We'll catch up later."

The bartender waved and accidentally hit the floating pitcher beside him, knocking it sideways and the liquid sloshed all over himself and the bartop, a series of curses streaming from him until the door closed behind them.

Tom was smirking and raised a hand automatically as they emerged back outside, blinking as his eyes adjusted once more. The pub had been so peculiar and intriguing, he hadn't stopped to wonder about the wizard shops they were supposed to be visiting and he expected something. But not a closed-off alleyway.

Again he wanted to question the older man, but this time knew better than to do so. Even so he was just a tad skeptical as the man pulled his stick, the one he'd used before, and began tapping bricks. Professor Dumbledore paused and stared expectantly at the brick wall before signing.

"I always mix up the fourth brick," He explained, looking back at Tom as he tapped the bricks again. "There we are."

Tom stared and watched in amazement as the bricks began rearranging themselves, moving and folding over until they'd formed into an archway, leading to a large and crowded street. While some of the people in the pub had been dressed… eccentrically, here in the street everyone was wearing robes or fashion styles that appeared outdated by several decades.

"This is Diagon Alley, Tom," Professor Dumbledore said with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. Tom stared in wonder. The lights in the windows and all the items on display didn't remind him of grungy London in the least, though if anything it made him reminiscent of Christmastime.

"Do you have your list?" Professor Dumbledore asked suddenly, as though he forgot about it himself until just that moment and Tom nodded his head eagerly, pulling the thick envelope out from the inside of his coat pocket. He pulled the supply list out and scanned the odd assortment of supplies again.

"And the school is paying for my supplies?" He asked again, looking to his list and then back to the Professor. A part of him worried that they'd get into the shops and Professor Dumbledore would leave him. It would be his sort of luck that something like that would happen.

"Yes, though we will be visiting the second-hand shops," Professor Dumbledore reminded him, "You will, however, be purchasing a new wand. Hogwarts takes a strong stance in finding a wand that bonds to you, or else your performance is substandard." He said, and Tom nodded, not really certain what to even say or do. He'd heard about wands before, in stories mostly, and it made sense that the stick he carried was a wand. Even though he wanted to ask many questions and get answers to everything, he was just a bit wary about sounding like an absolute idiot in front of the older man.

"We'll be heading to Ollivander's for your wand, but that's at the end of the shops, so we'll head through on the way and get what you'll need." Professor Dumbledore looked down at Tom. "What's the first item we should attend to?"

He'd just about memorized the list by heart at this point, having read it so many times over the weekend. He needed robes and uniforms and dragonhide gloves. And a pointed hat. There was also a book list, which he was actually the most excited to get his hands on, outside of his wand, because he'd be able to learn everything he needed to know about this world he'd been thrown into. But looking up at the closest shops to him, he spotted Potage's Cauldron Shop.

"A cauldron," he said decisively, folding the list in half and looking to the older man, "I need one that's pewter, size two."

"Excellent," Professor Dumbledore said with a smile and a clap of his hands, leading Tom to the first store on the left, opening the door for the young boy. Another family was already examining cauldrons on the far wall and Tom hung behind the Professor as he asked the man behind the counter for a secondhand pewter cauldron. He lingered as the man behind the counter went to fetch it and stared in awe at the solid gold cauldron, as well as the other ones that had gems embedded on the rim and handles. Professor Dumbledore got his attention and he hurried to stand next to the older man, who paid and passed the cauldron to Tom.

"Is all your currency in coins?" Tom asked.

"Yes, here." Professor Dumbledore pulled a few coins from the pouch within his robes and handed them to Tom. There were three different types, the largest being gold coins, the other two looking like silver and possibly bronze. "There's three different coins we use, the biggest one is called a galleon and is worth the most." The professor went over the other two and then gave a rough estimation of a galleon to pound. Tom ran his fingers over the ridges that came from the serial number on the galleon before handing them back.

"We'll be able to put the rest of your supplies in the cauldron so you can carry them all," Professor Dumbledore assured him, pocketing the coins back into his pouch and then frowned, "Oh yes, we'll also need to pick up a trunk to keep your items stored in, as well as some basic supplies like quills and parchment."

"Yes, sir," Tom said dutifully, holding the cauldron in both hands. It wasn't quite as heavy as it looked, but it wasn't light either.

"Now we'll head over to the Apothecary across the way and get your scales and phials. Your potions professor will supply any ingredients you might need for the class." The elder man led the way across the street and as Tom stepped into the small shop, he blinked into the darkness again. It went very much like this for the next few shops.

Professor Dumbledore seemed to know the list, as he didn't ask Tom what was on it again, and instead helped him pick out some glass phials and a set of scales, and then some rolls of parchment, quills and ink, and notebooks from the stationery shop, and a telescope from a shop that sold all sorts of devices for Astronomy and even some self-stirring cauldrons and other objects Tom couldn't place.

Most of the people seemed to know the professor and greeted him fondly. The man behind the counter at the magical instrument store even went out of his way to tell Tom how much he missed Hogwarts. Tom just nodded politely and wondered if this was going to be a normal experience. The bookstore was next and the man behind the counter found all of his textbooks. Secondhand, but despite this they were still in a far better condition than most of the books that they had at the orphanage. Professor Dumbledore also slipped a book labeled Hogwarts, A History, into the pile. Tom wanted to linger the most in this shop, it smelled of old books and parchment and he instantly felt at home there, running his fingers gently over the worn copies of books.

Upon seeing his longing stare, Professor Dumbledore said, "Hogwarts' library is very extensive, there will be no shortage of books for you to read there."

Tom brightened and allowed the professor to move him back out through the door and into the shop that was directly next store. They stepped into a secondhand robe shop and Tom was forced to exchange pleasantries with another girl being fitted. Not that she was completely unpleasant, but he wasn't used to people trying to befriend him and he really didn't want to talk about that fact that he was an orphan and no, his father wasn't the man standing in the corner, obviously. Despite this she smiled and waved, hopping off the stool once the woman was done measuring her and followed out a woman, probably her mother. Tom focused on the new-used robes he was getting and not on the twinge of loneliness he felt at wishing his own mother were there.

As they emerged onto the street, they continued on, past a large white and marble building with the words "Gringotts Wizarding Bank" embossed on the front, as well as a darker side street labeled with a faded sign "Knockturn Alley."

"When you come of age, you'll be able to get your own vault," Professor Dumbledore explained and Tom looked to the bank and then back to the side street. The elder man caught his gaze and put a hand on his shoulder, "Knockturn Alley doesn't offer any shops to cater to new students," He said gently.

Tom's eyes narrowed and he looked up at the man. "Then who do they cater to?"

Professor Dumbledore didn't answer and instead began going over the list of supplies they'd acquired. "Books, robes cauldron, scales, phials, telescope, stationary," the professor ticked off, "Besides the wand is there anything else we've missed?"

"You mentioned something about a trunk, sir," Tom reminded him.

"Ah, yes, I did. There's a store across from Ollivander's' that might have some, so we'll get your wand and then see about the trunk." Professor Dumbledore said, nodding to one of the last buildings on the row.

Ollivander's' was a thin building in comparison to the others they'd been in, and only had one window on the first floor. A bell chimed as they walked in and the pair hung back as a blond-haired boy finished purchasing his own wand. He was a pudgy boy and his cheeks were bright pink and he was bouncing on his heels excitedly as his mother paid for it. A young blond man behind the counter was discussing the care of wands and Tom turned his attention to the rest of the shop. There was one small billboard that advertisements had been pinned to, but the rest of the shop, behind the counter and well into the back was filled with narrow shelves and boxes upon boxes stacked everywhere.

"Professor Dumbledore!" The young man said, leaning on the counter in front of him. "Not here to drop off any more samples, are you?" The man asked excitedly.

"Oh, no, no, Garrick, I've been rather busy as of late." The professor replied, stepping up to the counter. Tom hung back for a moment, but felt the eyes of "Garrick" on him. He didn't like feeling like he was being studied, so he raised his eyes and stared back at the man.

"And what is your name, young man?" The shopkeeper asked, still leaning on the counter.

"This is Tom Riddle. Tom, this is Garrick Ollivander, he'll be helping you find a proper wand." Professor Dumbledore gestured for Tom to step up to the desk, and he did, standing slightly on his toes to try and make himself feel taller and closer to being able to see clearly over the counter.

"Now, let's see," Ollivander said, walking around the counter, drawing his wand and levitating a rolled up tape measure with silver markings alongside him. "Which is your wand arm?"

Wand arm? Tom assumed that it was likely the same as a writing hand. "I can write with both hands," He supplied and Ollivander gave him a smile.

"Ambidextrous, impressive, well that gives you more choices, now stand still while I take your measurements." The tape ran all over Tom and he held still as it measured his arms and then his body. "Now, of course, there are exceptions, but generally the length of one's forearm and torso is indicative of the length and width of their wand, or at least so I've found," Ollivander jotted down some numbers and walked away as he said this, disappearing amongst the shelves, but still talking to them past the boxes.

"Now," He called loudly from the back, "We'll start you out with testing different cores, which," He said, emerging with a large stack of boxes, "are made up of powerful magical substances. If you seem to get attached to one, then we'll work out the wood type," he set the boxes on the counter and opened one and held the wand aloft. "Beech-wood and kelpie hair, a favorite of my father's. Ten and a quarter inches, springy. Give it a wave."

He wasn't quite sure how a wand might be springy, but he took the wand and waved it. When nothing happened he looked at the other man, and then to Professor Dumbledore.

"No, no," Ollivander snatched the wand from his hand and Tom stared at him skeptically as he rummaged through some more boxes. "Kelpie won't do, oh here, this." He pulled out a dark wand, "Chestnut, dragonheart string, eleven inches, flexible."

Tom didn't even have a chance to wave this wand because Ollivander was snatching it back before he'd even released it into Tom's hand. Tom gave the man a glare, which went unnoticed by the shopkeeper.

"Ashwood, twelve and a half, veela hair, whippy." This wand actually burned slightly as the touch and Tom gratefully let it back into Ollivander's hand. It continued like this for awhile, and the boxes piled up on the ground and the counter around them. The man ruled out over a dozen magical cores, from kneazle whiskers to unicorn and dittany, whatever those were, and eventually began circling back to test different woods he had yet to try. Tom was feeling a bit discouraged, but mostly annoyed given the man would barely let him touch half the wands before he was yanking them back, and not only this, it seemed to delight him.

"This is getting more and more interesting!" The young man exclaimed, stacking some of the used wands back into a pile and behind the counter, "Er, oh, here it is!" He pulled another box out. "Oak, fourteen and three-quarters inch, inflexible, dragon heartstring."

Tom took this wand hesitantly, as he had been with the last batch, waiting for Ollivander to snap it back, only he didn't. He gave the wand a slight wave and several of the boxes slid from the desk and the window behind him burst, shattering the trio in glass. Tom flinched, worried immediately he'd done something wrong but neither man seemed put off.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Ollivander said as Professor Dumbledore waved his own wand, repairing the glass and restacking the boxes. "Hold on, I actually think I have it-" He disappeared among the shelves again. Tom carefully set down the wand on the counter back in the box and the Professor gave him an encouraging nod.

"Here! Here it is!" The man exclaimed, coming out. "Yew, thirteen-and-a-half inches, very rigid, but features a phoenix feather." He shoved the long wand into Tom's hand and a sort of coolness seeped into his palm, the kind of relief you felt when you turned over a pillow in the middle of summer. When he waved the wand down through the air in front of him, the wand seemed to sing in his ears and an immense sense of happiness and belonging filled his chest. Silver sparks streamed from the tip and Tom couldn't hold back a triumphant grin.

The older men applauded him and he turned slightly to see Professor Dumbledore giving him a warm smile, a bright twinkle in his eye. Even as Ollivander began clearing the other wands from the counter and getting Tom's rang up, Tom didn't want to let go of it, but reluctantly let Ollivander wrap the wand back in its box. He held the box close as the professor paid the shopkeeper. The letter didn't feel quite as important now, not with his wand in his hands. He wasn't just some orphan. He was a wizard.

The warm feeling in his chest didn't disappear as they left the shop and Professor Dumbledore began leading him towards the one across the road that sold trunks. They began to backtrack, passing by the several shops that sat between Ollivanders' and the trunk shop, but several kids crowded around one of the stores slowed them.

He paused, still grasping the box that held his wand tightly in his arms, but couldn't see over the heads of the kids gathered around the shop window, talking excitedly about whatever was in the window.

"What's that about?" He asked, looking to Professor Dumbledore, who was inching them around the group.

"A new broomstick has come out," he said, steering Tom forward. "We use brooms in a sport called Quidditch, it's a bit like…" He trailed off, clearly trying to think of a muggle sport to compare it to, but couldn't seem to think of one.

"Football?" Tom suggested, only because it was the only major sport that came to mind, though he tried to imagine footballers on brooms and it seemed a bit odd.

"A bit," Professor Dumbledore said, running a hand through his red and grey hair, trying to flatten it some. "Except there's three hoops and they fly on brooms and throw the balls into the hoops."

Tom frowned, but honestly, he knew very little about the actual rules of football to begin making comparisons and the next shop distracted him once more. Instead of children and teenagers, there were a dozen or so stands perched in front of it, crowding the sidewalk with perched owls. His mind went back to one of the rules at the bottom of the letter, the statement about bringing either a cat, a toad, or an owl.

"Why an owl or a toad?" He questioned, pausing in front of the shop, referring to the list that was folded up in his coat. A cat at least vaguely made sense.

"Ah," Professor Dumbledore said, stopping beside him and leaning forward to inspect one of the owls that was sitting on a stand, hooting softly, as though annoyed at them and everyone else in the alley for disturbing his nap. "Brilliant creatures, owls. Wizards and witches use them to carry mail, though we do have post offices that use owls too, for those that don't own their own."

Tom stared longingly at the owl, toads forgotten, and reached out and very gently ran his fingertips over the soft feathers.

"Do you have a pet at the orphanage?" Professor Dumbledore asked. "Sometimes heads of houses will make exceptions for other types of pets, as long as they're on the small side and easy to take care of or contain if need be."

Tom shook his head. "One of the boys, Billy, he has a rabbit he found, but Mrs. Cole only let him keep it cause he's working with the grocer to pay for its food." He didn't count any of his snakes as pets. They were wild and while they were friends, they didn't belong to him.

"Would it be alright if we looked inside?" He asked hesitantly, looking at the door that was propped open. He could hear more animals inside and he wanted to know what other animals wizards and witches were accustomed to keeping. "I know I don't have money, but Mrs. Cole's never let us see inside a pet store before."

Professor Dumbledore pulled out his pocket watch and took a quick glance at it. "We need to get lunch still, but I suppose it'll be fine." He said, giving Tom an indulgent nod.

Tom stepped through the open door and shuffled the wand box under his arm so he had a free hand. There was a wall of cages and they were mostly filled with cats, some curled sleeping, others were eating or stretching, turning around in their cages. He reached out his hand, sticking his fingers through the bars and one of the cats rubbed along his fingertips, meowing happily.

"Are they normal cats?" he asked, turning his head slightly to look at Professor Dumbledore.

"Most of them are, but some are part kneazle," The older man said, and then explained at Tom's confused look, "A kneazle is a type of magical cat that is very smart, very clever and are usually bred with normal cats. They bond with their owners and are very loyal to them."

Tom nodded his head and pulled his fingers back out of the cage. He roamed the shop, pausing to look at several frogs that were piled on top of each other and sitting under a lamp, and then again at a clumsy-looking litter of puppies trapped inside a gated area. There were a few other types of creatures that the professor had to explain to him, but most of them were within the realm of believability.

Finally, a tank in one of the back corners caught his attention and he paused by it, looking at it. It appeared mostly empty, filled with several branches and leaves until he saw movement.

"Go away," The snake inside hissed, curling into a ball in the corner, "Or I shall bite ."

"You're in a cage," Tom hissed quietly at the small snake, "Unless I stick my hand in, you can't bite me."

The snake paused its coiling to stare at him, tilting his head. "You will not stick your hand in to grab me? " It asked cautiously.

Tom shook his head. "Not if you don't want me to."

The snake seemed to almost sag in relief. "Little humans reach their hands in all day and pull me out, I do not like it."

"I don't imagine you would," Tom commiserated. "_I_'m sorry they grab you. It's because they're impressed with you, your scales are quite shiny," he tried to console. He knew from experience that the snakes were fairly prideful and if he praised them they were usually satisfied.

Sure enough, the snake seemed to puff slightly and slithered in a circle that Tom took to mean he was pleased. "Thank you, human."

Tom smiled and straightened, turning to see Professor Dumbledore watching him closely, the look unreadable on the older man's face and Tom felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"How long have you been able to talk to snakes?" Professor Dumbledore asked, his voice still void of emotion. It made Tom uncomfortable and he knew that he'd clearly done something wrong. How he'd messed up being a wizard this quickly, he wasn't sure.

"Ever since I can remember," he answered truthfully. "They find me a lot, want me to keep them safe from the other kids, and the older kids thought I was just messing around, playing a game." Tom hadn't put much thought into the ability since Professor Dumbledore had told him he was a wizard. "Are other wizards able to talk to animals?" He asked cautiously. He'd thought that it was just that, something normal wizards and magic users would be able to do- it made sense.

But Professor Dumbledore shook his head slowly. "No, it's very rare." He looked like he was going to say more, but decided against it.

Tom shifted his feet uncomfortably and looked back at the snake in the tank behind him. It was more calm, blinking sleepily at him and he was glad he'd talked to it. He hoped the owner of the shop would keep a better eye to make sure kids didn't grab him, but hopefully, the snake wouldn't be as apprehensive about the kids gawking at him.

"Is it… you know, the good kind of weird?" He asked, turning around and stepping closer to Professor Dumbledore, "Weird like wizards are weird to muggles, or a bad sort of weird?" Somehow going from being a weird kid who talked to snakes without magic to a weird kid who talked to snakes with magic only seemed like a partial upgrade.

Professor Dumbledore looked after the top of his glasses at him, his eyes distracted like he was thinking. "I think it could be either," He said quietly, "Depending on how you use it."

Tom made a face, staring at the older man in confusion and then shrugged. Professor Dumbledore continued to act distracted as they left the shop and headed to pick out a secondhand trunk, something big enough for Tom to pack his clothes, books and supplies in. While he earned a few more small smiles from the professor, he seemed more distant than before. Tom was sad to leave Diagon Alley, but a bit glad to get away from Professor Dumbledore when he finally took him back to Wool's Orphanage.


	4. First Year Blues: Start From Scratch

Before he'd left him at the orphanage, Professor Dumbledore had stopped Tom at the gates of the orphanage and handed Tom a slim envelope. "Inside is your ticket for the Hogwarts Express." He said seriously, "Now listen closely, or else you won't know how to get on it."

Tom had nodded his head and listened, but he had to admit he was just a little skeptical of the instructions. He'd been to King's Cross twice in his life and there weren't any half or quarter platforms, so he hoped Professor Dumbledore wasn't completely insane when he said he needed to run in between the two platforms to get to the proper one. Professor Dumbledore had spoken to Mrs. Cole about him getting a lift, and Cook promised she'd drop him off after she was done cleaning up breakfast.

The wait was agonizing. Tom spent the two weeks reading his books from front to back, and then when he found he'd finished them all, read them again to any snakes who would listen. A few of them would let him ramble on only because they liked him, but otherwise, he'd be halfway into a chapter before he'd noticed they'd slithered off. At night, when he was certain all the other boys were asleep, he'd open the trunk and pull the box with his wand out, looking at it and occasionally touching it. Professor Dumbledore had told him he wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school until he was of age, so instead, he practiced the words and movements with his fingers. Nothing ever happened, though he swore he saw his pillow twitch once or twice. Only once did Denton try to pick the lock on his trunk and Mrs. Cole walloped him so good that he didn't even look at Tom's trunk again, though plenty of sneers were shot in the eleven year old's direction.

Thursday, September 1st, Tom was up and had anything and everything he owned packed neatly in his trunk. He already had on the school uniform sans his robe and had his envelope with his ticket folded and tucked carefully in his trousers. He ate his food quickly and cleaned up his mess, but not everyone else was moving as quickly as he was. The rest of the children didn't return to school until the following Monday, so many of them were trying to sleep in, which made him groan and want to slam his head against a wall. He ended up helping Mrs. Garter with two of the little ones instead. They weren't old enough for him to be able to impress with his ability to talk to snakes, so instead, he drew shapes on one of the little chalkboards Mrs. Garter used for their lessons and let them shout out the shapes at him until Mrs. Garter came back. Every time he looked at the clock, he could feel his leg bouncing faster with anticipation.

After what felt like ages, Cook came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron and she'd barely said his name and he was up. Mrs. Garter gave him a quick one-arm hug as she took one of the toddlers back from him and patted his head and he ran and shouted a goodbye at Mrs. Cole who was working on the wash with some of the girls. In short order he and Cook had his trunk loaded into the back of the car and they were on their way to King's Cross.

Cook, luckily, wasn't as affectionate as Mrs. Garter, or as strict as Mrs. Cole, and the moment he pointed at Platform Nine and said he was ready and had his ticket, she gave him one quick pat on the head and left him be to board on his own. He waited until she was completely out of sight before he turned the trolley around and found the barrier between Platform Nine and Ten.

He swallowed as he stared at the brick wall. No one else was going through it, but it was also early, barely after nine. The ticket said the departure time wasn't until eleven, so it was possible he was the first person there. Part of him hoped that was true, and part of him didn't. He both longed to be the only person there, able to scope the place out and find the best seat and get settled before any other kids showed up, but also didn't want to be noticed by all the people who would arrive after him. He chewed on a corner of his lip and took a deep breath and took a few steps back.

His hands tight on the handles of the trolley, he pushed it forward. He half expected someone to yell at him to stop or to watch out, but no one paid him any mind and he flinched when he hit the barrier.

Only he didn't hit the barrier. Just as professor Dumbledore said, he went through it without a problem and he blinked as he looked around at the empty platform in front of him. He heaved a sigh of relief and then smiled, slowly pushing the trolley up to one of the open doors of the train.

A man waving his wand, muttering under his breath and Tom paused behind him, wondering who he needed to check his ticket with. The man didn't notice him however and waved his wand. Several of the windows slid open in unison and then slid shut. "Windows, check," The man said quietly and then began waving his wand again.

"Excuse me, sir," Tom said quietly and the man jumped just a little. He turned and looked Tom up and down and blinked, before looking at the watch on his wrist. "Goodness, you panicked me, I thought maybe I'd lost track of time," The man let out a breathy laugh and shook his head. "You're a bit early, yeah?"

Tom nodded his head. "My- mom could only drop me off now." He said, the lie rolling relatively easily off his tongue. It was more that he didn't want to try and explain to the random man in front of him his entire situation and it was easier to lie about it.

"Fair enough, fair enough, she's probably a hard-working lady," The man said and looked up and down the train. "Hmm, well, everything's about set anyways, you can go ahead and load up anywhere you'd like- uh… ticket, I suppose- and do you need help with your trunk?"

Tom handed the man his ticket and shook his head, which he'd regret later, as he tried to maneuver the trunk into the storage department and grabbed a robe and a couple of books out of it first to keep him occupied. He pulled the robes on, and even though they were secondhand, he couldn't tell. They were nice and fit him well and he held his belongings close as he climbed onto the train. He had his pick, all the compartments were roomy and had comfortable chairs and he picked one of the ones in the middle, sitting next to the window where he'd have a good sight of all the other families once they arrived, but also able to duck and keep out of sight if he needed to.

He tried rereading one of his books again, but he had a hard time paying attention. Any time there was any sort of noise, he'd look cautiously out the window, but the first few times it was just the man who had taken his ticket. It wasn't until later on that he heard a pounding of feet and saw two girls emerging onto the platform, trolleys in front of them, talking animatedly to each other while they parents followed behind. They were older, probably in their teens and Tom shrank a bit in his seat, hoping they wouldn't notice him.

They didn't. Instead, they gave their parents hugs and kisses, promising to write. One of the mothers scolded her daughter, telling her she better not receive any news about her skipping classes, while the other girl grabbed a cage with a large grey owl off the top of her trunk while their fathers loaded the trunks onto the train. The man from before, a conductor, Tom thought he was called, greeted them and took their tickets. As all this happened, more people began to arrive, and much of the same began to play out over with each family. Tom ignored the tight feeling in his chest and instead tried to memorized faces. Did anyone look familiar? Not that they would, he doubted any other students starting would have gone to school with him, or know him from London- wizards and witches likely ran in completely different circles, judging from what Diagon Alley had looked like.

Lost in thought and people watching, he'd hardly noticed that people were beginning to stream past his compartment on the train, finding their own seats. No one was paying him any mind either, not recognizing him and seeking out their own friends or compartments they wanted. It wasn't until the door to his compartment slid open and a young girl smiled and waved at him that he jumped and turned to look at her.

"Hi! Are you saving these seats?" The girl asked brightly, waving her hands at the compartment. Tom blinked and looked around and then shook his head. The girl looked well kept with strawberry blonde curls and a round freckled face, and clothes that looked newer than anything he owned- including his wand.

"Is it alright if I sit here then?" She asked, pulling a small tote into the room with her, "I don't know hardly anyone except my cousin and he's off with the prefects right now and my friend hasn't gotten here yet."

Tom nodded slowly and she flashed a bright smile and slid the compartment door shut behind her and flopped onto the seat opposite of him. "Are you a first year too?" She asked excitedly. "My name is Euphemia, but everyone just calls me Mia," she stuck her hand out and Tom took it, giving her a quick shake.

"Yeah, I'm Tom," he said politely. He wanted to make a good first impression, but he was nervous he'd mess it up. What if he did or said something wrong?

"Do you know what house you want to be in?" Mia asked, curling one of her feet under as she adjusted in her seat. Tom shook his head automatically. He'd read about each of them when he'd read through Hogwarts, A History, but each of the houses seemed to possess some attributes he liked. Mia continued on happily despite his quiet response.

"I don't think I mind which house I get-" She said, looking out the window, "My mom was a Ravenclaw and my dad was a Gryffindor, and my cousin is in Slytherin, my whole family has pretty much been spread out and they all liked them, so I'm sure I'll enjoy where I get put." She paused and looked back to him, "What about your family?"

Tom froze for only a moment before lying seamlessly, "I don't know about my parents, they're dead, but my uncle was in Ravenclaw." He didn't know why he picked that house specifically- probably because she said her mom had been in it- crap, his insides seized slightly. What if she asked for his name? Or asked her mom if she knew him? While one part viewed this as a chance to recreate himself- no longer a pathetic orphan with a freak trick, but a proper wizard with a proper home and family, even if they were a bit made up, another part wondered if someone would sniff the lie out immediately.

But she didn't ask. Instead, she made a face. "I'm sorry," she said and he shook his head. He should have gone for the full lie, just saying his mom or dad was in Ravenclaw- he hated the pity people tried to give him when they found out he was an orphan.

"It's okay, I don't remember them." He'd always found telling partial truths mixed with a lie worked best. He was able to tell the lie more flawlessly and remember it easier than making up something completely.

Mia nodded her head, still looking sad, but less with pity, and more sympathy, as if she understood. "My cousin's parents passed away too- his dad died just after the war and his mom passed away not long after that, he's lived with me and my parents ever since."

Tom gave a small smirk of understanding and nodded his head. Mia gave him a genuine smile and he decided he liked Mia, the sincerity was almost disorienting. He wondered if many of the students would be like this- he'd interacted with other children from outside of Wool's when he was in class, but most of them had avoided him. Many of the boys had friends and walked home together and purposely left him out of any games during break, and the girls didn't even look in his direction, let alone try to be nice to him.

"Oh!" Mia said excitedly, jumping up so she was kneeling on her seat. She reached up and pulled on the locks for the compartment's window and began to pull it down, "Tammy!" She called, waving out the window, "I have a seat!" She paused as she waved some more and then ducked her head back in and closed the window, flopping back into the seat again.

"Sorry," She said, smoothing her skirt, "That was my friend- she's going to be a first year too, I hope it's okay I invited her."

Tom shrugged his shoulders, "It's fine with me."

While they waited for Tammy, Mia pulled a deck of cards from her tote and lowered the table from the wall, shuffling them and Tom leaned forward, resting his elbows on the corner of it, listening to her and she began telling him about a game her cousin taught her. The train's whistle called a warning as the time ticked closer to eleven, but Tom ignored it, his nervousness from before settled.

The compartment door slid open and a girl with straight brown hair tied into a messy braid with a woven carrier pushed into the room. "Sorry- sorry, Mum was running late and we realized we forgot the food for Kelly so we had to turn the car around and go back to get it-" She paused as she set the carrier on the table, and shut the door behind her. "Oh- hi, who's he?" She asked happily, looking at Tom.

The woven carrier yowled indignantly before Tom could answer and the girl rolled her eyes and unlatched it. "Hush, Kelly, you've only been in there five minutes, act like you're dying why don't you-" A large white cat pushed its way out of the carrier bag and hopped onto the seat beside Tom, sniffing him cautiously before hopping over to Mia and climbing into her lap.

"This is Tom," Mia explained, running her hand over the cat, who settled and began purring loudly, "Tom, this is my friend Tamara-"

"No one calls me Tamara unless Mum is shrieking at me," She told Mia and then looked to Tom, "Tammy Baggley."

"Tom Riddle," He said politely as she lifted the carrier and shoved it up into the storage area by Mia's tote.

"Oh ha, so do you like riddles and word games then?" She asked, sliding into the seat next to Mia and then shook her head, "Sorry- stupid joke, of course you do. Ignore me."

"Tammy's a bit daft sometimes," Mia said teasingly, settling the cards and beginning to deal out a hand for each of them, "But I love her all the same."

Tammy punched Mia in the shoulder but rolled her eyes, leaning on her friend as she took her cards. "Good, no one else will. You both excited?" She asked, looking between them. "The only time I was away from Mum and Dad was last winter my grandmother took me to Paris for two weeks."

Tom looked at the other girl, vaguely impressed. She'd been to Paris? Mia just shrugged, "Justin," she paused and look at Tom, "He's my cousin I told you about- Justin says that you only notice it the first week or so and then you get so busy with classes and quidditch and stuff that you don't even notice it. Explains why he never wrote as often as he said he would."

"Maybe he was glad to be rid of you," Tammy said, smirking. She looked to Tom expectantly, "What about you?"

"What about me?" Tom replied evenly.

"Being homesick," She said with exasperation, rolling her eyes. She reached up and pulled the ribbon from her hair and began undoing the braids.

Tom shrugged, "I'll be fine, I'm sure I'll like it more than being at home." He'd never referred to the orphanage as home before, but if he was going with the story that he lived with his uncle- should his uncle be married? Did he have an aunt? He'd need to decide that quickly- then he'd be better off thinking of it as a home from now on.

"Where do you live, if you don't mind me asking?" Tammy asked.

"London," Tom answered truthfully. That one was a bit easier. London was big, he could live just about anywhere and it wouldn't be odd someone might not know him.

"Oh that must be amazing," Tammy said wistfully, "We live south of Taunton in a wizarding village, there's nothing out there and it's boring."

"Do you like London?" Mia asked.

"It's okay," Tom said, "It's very busy, lots of noise- but it's nice being close to Diagon Alley."

Tammy made a noise that Tom took for agreement and opened her mouth to say something but was cut off as the train's whistle sounded again, this time long, drawing everyone's attention. Mia and Tammy both pushed to the window, and Tom looked over his shoulder at the adults waving at them from the platform, the last of the kids hurrying to get on.

"Bye Mrs. Baggley!" Mia yelled and Tammy whistled, blowing her mother a kiss, "See you at Christmas!"

Tom caught sight of the woman they were waving too, standing with a few other mothers. She looked a lot like Tammy- the same hair and general face shape and she made a shape of a heart with her hands and yelled something that Tom couldn't make out. Her chest twisted again, but something bumped against his hand and he found Kelly climbing slowly into his lap, shoving its head against Tom's hand aggressively, demanding his attention. This was good. It was going to be great.


	5. First Year Blues: So Try Me On

A/N: Another Familiar Chapter from the old version of Empathetic- some minor alterations. The sorting hat isn't able to tell that Tom is a Gaunt from Tom's memory, and Merope, to our knowledge, didn't go to Hogwarts so the name shouldn't be familiar. I like to think that to the sorting hat, each family line of magic has a different flavor or feel to it, and being a descendant of Slytherin makes Tom's feel distinctly that of the Gaunts. Also, DO YOU KNOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO WRITE THE SORTING HAT'S SONG. TOO LONG. NEVER AGAIN. THIS IS WHY JK ROWLING DID EVERYTHING IN HER POWER TO NOT HAVE TO WRITE IT AT THE BEGINNING OF EVERY FRACKING BOOK.

Tom had to pee. He didn't know if it was just the nerves as they waited in the chamber to be brought into the Great Hall, or if he actually needed to go. He didn't dare ask anyone- not that any of them would know, they were all first years and it was their first time at the castle, but what if Professor Dumbledore showed up to take them in? He was relieved just a bit at the small smile of acknowledgment in his direction from the man, settling some of the anxiety in his stomach, but the argument from the three boys behind him weren't helping.

"Dad said I shouldn't worry about it," The boy behind him said for the fifth time, "They just pick where you go-"

"Yeah well, my brother said you have to pass a test-" The other boy said, "I read one of the books but how are we supposed to pass any tests if we haven't learned any spells yet?"

Tom supposed it would be easier if it _was_ a test, considering he'd read all the books twice already, but did he remember any of it, truly? His mind went blank when he tried to recall the spells he practiced, the only one he could remember off the top of his head was the _Lumos_ one, and that was only because of how simple it was.

"Ignore them," Tammy said knowingly and Tom blinked at her and realized Mia looked just as pale, gripping Tammy's hand tightly. "And promise whatever house you get put in, even if it's a different one, we meet up Saturday morning after breakfast."

Tom nodded his head in agreement, not willing to abandon the two girls who had befriended him. "Is there a rule about not being to be friends with people from other houses?" He asked doubtfully.

Tammy shook her head, "No, but I've heard a lot of people just group off like that anyways."

The door at the front of the room pushed open and Professor Dumbledore held it open and gestured forwards through it. "We're ready for you."

The students in the front slowly started to shuffle forwards and Tom followed them, Tammy and Mia next to him in the group. As the group came into the hall, a more cohesive line was formed as they walked and he ended up walking next to a boy with messy brown hair, his face red with nerves who only gave Tom a quick nervous smile before focusing on the back of the other first year in front of him.

He tried to scan the older students sitting at the tables on either side of them- each long table sat under a banner with the different colors of each house, their crests displayed proudly and the students at each table were wearing robes lined with their corresponding colors. Some of them smiled at them while others ignored them completely. The group came to a staggering stop in front of the steps that led up to a long table at the front of the hall, where the rest of the adults were seated. Professor Dumbledore had, at some point between here and leaving the room, retrieved a stool and a large worn wizard hat. Tom swallowed and looked around slowly at the other first years around him, but they all looked equally confused. Professor Dumbledore and the rest of the staff sitting up at the table were staring expectantly at the hat on the stool.

The hat jerked suddenly, the brim splitting open and all of the first years jumped slightly, staring at the suddenly animate object. As the brim split, the hat began to speak and Tom focused in on its words.

_Welcome students, young and small_

_To our school and our Hall_

_Filled with nerves and self-doubt,_

_We'll teach you spells and give you clout_

_Nervous need be you not_

_All your ramblings and your thoughts_

_Put it all to the side_

_And in me you can confide_

_We'll find a place for you here_

_Worry not, no need for fear_

_I present four houses, mighty all_

_All great and distinguished, nothing small_

_Gryffindor, filled with bravery and pride_

_No where for cowards to truly hide_

_Though reckless and stubborn they can be_

_Courage and strength are there when in need_

_Hufflepuff, the kind, loyal and just,_

_True to their friends and someone to trust_

_When in need, you will never be lost_

_Badgers work hard for their own, no matter the cost_

_Ravenclaw's lot, wisen and learned_

_They seek their knowledge, always discerned_

_Creative and occupied are they so_

_They never mind going against the flow_

_Finally in Slytherin, our most impressed_

_Our snakes always seek to find the best_

_Ambitious and cunning, they aim for success_

_Desiring to prove the worth of their crest_

_Nothing left to do but put me on your head_

_I'll peek inside, put all your worries to bed_

_Sort through all the bits and bobs, your mind to comb_

_And send you along to your new house and home!_

The hat stopped its song and Tom heard a round of applause from the staff in front of them and the rest of the students behind him. He raised his hands and he and a few others clapped politely as well, but the rest of the first years seemed to be in shock.

Professor Dumbledore stepped up to stand beside the stool unfurled a sheet of rolled parchment with one hand while the other gently grasped the top of the brown hat and lifted it from the stool, holding it aloft.

"Arnold, Debra!" He called out, looking down at the group of first years. There was a moment of pause and then a dark-skinned girl with tight black curls tied into a long, thick braid pushed forward through the group and stepped hesitantly up the steps to the stool. Professor Dumbledore gestured for her to sit and she slipped slowly onto the stool and the professor dropped the hat onto her head.

The room waited quietly and Tom looked to Mia, who just shrugged. They stood in silence and after just a minute, the hat called out loudly, "Gryffindor!"

One of the tables behind them, Tom assumed Gryffindor, burst into applause and congratulatory yells and Professor Dumbledore lifted the hat off the girl's head and she hurried down the steps to the proper table.

"Does it really see in your head?" Tammy whispered quietly and this time Tom shrugged. It was a bit odd they left their futures up to a hat.

"Ansel, Euphemia!" Professor Dumbledore called and Mia gave both Tom and Tammy's hands a squeeze before pushing through the group to take her turn. She hesitantly slid onto the stool and stiffened when the hat fell onto her head, covering the top part of her face. Tom began counting in his head out of curiosity, and had only gotten to twenty when the hat shouted, "Hufflepuff!" The room behind him applauded again and continued to do so when all the students took their turn. When Professor Dumbledore removed the hate, Mia gave Tammy and Tom a small wave and hurried past the group of first years to take her seat.

"Avery, Miles!" Professor Dumbledore called, and a boy in the front row took his turn. It took less time with this boy, and when the hat yelled out "Slytherin!" The claps were less raucous, but still fairly excited.

"Baggley, Tamara!" Tammy gave him a smile and took her place. The hat seemed to take only seconds with her and sorted her into Hufflepuff as well. Tom blinked and looked over his shoulder to see Tammy taking a seat beside Mia.

A boy was sorted into Ravenclaw next, and names continued on for a while as Professor Dumbledore went down the list alphabetically. He shifted his feet occasionally as they got closer and closer to the R's.

Pratt, Roswell was sorted into Hufflepuff as well, and then Professor Dumbledore called the next name on the list.

"Riddle, Thomas!"

The eleven year old tried to remember to breathe as he took a tentative step forward. There were less than half of the first years remaining and he didn't have to push past anyway to get to the steps. The man gave him a reassuring smile and he took the last few steps to the stool. He sat down and the hat fell onto his head, sliding past his ears until the brim of the hat hit his nose, making the world go dark.

"_Ahhh, so _this_ is where the Gaunts went off to_."

Tom stiffened suddenly as a voice echoed around his head, "Who?" He asked quietly.

"J_ust think it lad, I can hear you._"

'Who are the Gaunts?' He asked, feeling silly for thinking a question.

The hat chortled, which was ridiculous because hats weren't supposed to chortle, but then again hats weren't supposed to sing songs or sort children into houses, at least by what he'd learned in the orphanage. "_Your family of course._" There was a slight pause and Tom's mind raced with thoughts. He'd never had a family before- he didn't even know his mother's name. Technically he had his father's since it was the same as his own. "I'm not a muggleborn?" He thought at the hat instead.

"_Goodness no, not with Gaunt magic in you- each family has a sort of feel to them and you reek of Gaunt._" The hat explained, and despite the words, he sounded amused.

"Sorry," Tom automatically apologized.

"_Nonsense, now, let's sort you before they think you're a hatstall,_" the hat said and Tom wanted to ask what a hatstall was, but he didn't think it would be a good thing, so he didn't. "_Hmm, new friends went to Hufflepuff, and the loyalty's there, but so is courage- brains too, a thirst to prove yourself…_" The hat seemed to trail off and Tom felt a blush rise to his cheeks at the praise.

"_Cunning a plenty and the ambition to go with it,_" The hat hummed and then let out an almost sort of sigh. "_Well, I'm sure old Salazar would throttle me if I put you anywhere but, _SLYTHERIN!"

The hat yelled the last word and Tom felt just a bit disappointed as the lights came back on, the hat lifted from his head. The hall was clapping again and he stood and stumbled forward to the house with the green crest hanging over it and the most students clapping. There was a spot closest to the front of the hall that was left be, probably for the first years to sit down at as they were sorted. Sure, he wanted to go with Tammy and Mia, but he also wanted to be the best wizard he could be, and if the hat thought Slytherin would do that for him, then he saw no real reason to argue, even if he'd miss Mia and Tammy.

He could see some of the older Slytherins looking at him in a calculating manner, the same he'd seen some of the older students at the orphanage give the new children when they were trying to decide what they thought of them. He sat straight up, not ducking his head. He was a wizard, and the hat said he came from a family of wizards. He belonged here. No one was going to tell him differently.

One of the boys who had been sorted already gave him one of these looks, his head tilted slightly. "Riddle, yeah?" He asked, over the claps of another student being sorted into a different house. "I don't know the name." It sounded almost accusatory. The boy's face was lean and his nose and cheeks were covered in freckles, the brown hair and brown eyes making him look vaguely plain.

Tom inclined his head and kept from frowning, his face neutral. "Yeah? Sounds like you don't know many names then."

The girl sitting behind him snorted, and shook her head when the boy glared at her, "Oh hush Preston, he got you there."

Preston Nott leaned back, his arms folded and shrugged. "Good names get you in good places around here," he said cooly, turning his attention back to Tom. "It helps show who's the best around here."

Tom decided to ignore him, especially when the Headmaster pushed himself to his feet and gave a speech about the school year's start and called the feast to order. The food appeared magically on the table in front of them, things Tom had never seen or heard of and smells so good he didn't know how he'd ever be able to eat anything at the orphanage ever again. He loaded his plate and exchanged pleasantries with two second years sitting on the other side of him, ignoring Nott and his scowl.


	6. First Year Blues: The Status Quo

Tom was more than ready for Saturday morning when it finally came. He was a little bit grateful at least that Hogwarts began classes on the first weekday after they arrived, which that year was a Friday. It meant he only had to endure one day of classes before getting a break and by God he needed it.

The night of the feast had gone quietly. Professor Slughorn was a short and stout man who acted jovially but had a sharp gleam in his eyes and he was their Head of House. He welcomed them into the Slytherin common room and Tom forced himself to not stare open mouthed at the glass wall that overlooked the underside of the lake they'd been on a few hours before. The room was done in silver, black and emerald greens. Everything was ornate and beautiful and Professor Slughorn took some time to go over the rules, both within the dormitory and outside it, and also introduced each of the prefects. And then he sent everyone off to bed with a warning to go straight to sleep and get a good night's rest.

It was there he properly met the three boys he would be sharing his dormitory with. Unfortunately one was the boy from the table with the freckles- his name was Preston Nott. There was another boy who was as tan as Tom and Preston were pale, with black curly hair and black eyes like Tom's- his name was Miles Avery. Theon Mulciber was a short, but sturdy-looking blonde with hair that was combed just right and blue eyes. It was clear right off the bat the three already knew each other. Preston started in immediately on Tom before he could even get a pair of pajamas out.

"Are you a mudblood then?" He demanded, leaning against his own bedpost.

Tom felt the hair of his neck stand on end. "No." He said shortly. He only knew what the word meant because one of the older girls had said it as they were leaving the hall and she'd been scolded loudly by a prefect.

"Lay off it Nott," Avery said, fluffing his pillows some, "Write your mum if it's got you in that much of a tiff."

"I have a right to know if I'm sharing a room with some filthy-"

"I'm a half-blood," Tom said, interrupting calmly. At first, he thought of it simply as part of the lie- if he had an uncle who was a wizard that stood to reason one of his parents were- right? But the sorting hat had told him he was a Gaunt- a horribly bleak sounding name, but if they were a wizarding family, then he'd be a half-blood, right?

"Yeah- there's a lot of 'em floating around, otherwise we'd all be marrying our first cousins, right Nott?" Mulciber said, looking up from a book he had propped open on his lap. Nott, lacking the numbers to back him up, simply turned and began pulling his own pajamas out of his trunk.

The next morning hadn't gone much better either. He was the first up and had to take the time to find and figure out the showers. By the time he'd gotten dressed and loaded his bag with supplies, Avery was groaning loudly and cursing him to turn off the lights. He slipped Hogwarts, A History into the bag to read in his spare time and it was already growing heavy.

Breakfast was quiet with groggy students adjusting to the new schedule and Mia looked half asleep when Tammy waved at him from the Hufflepuff table. He gave a small wave back and sat in an empty spot, grabbing some toast and he could feel his stomach turning over with nerves. About mid-breakfast time, when the table was full, Professor Slughorn came down from the high table and began handing out schedules to each of the students and Tom eagerly accepted it, eyes roaming over the parchment.

He frowned slightly when he saw his first classes didn't technically start until the second period of the day, but brightened at the idea of Potions. He realized the classes were paired off into houses, which made sense given how small the pool of Slytherin first years seemed to be. Instead, he finished and grabbed his bag, wondering how difficult it would be to find the library in his spare time. He tried to catch the eyes of Mia or Tammy, but they were deep in conversation with some of the girls around them and he gave up and headed for the doors.

As it would happen he did find the library, but by the time he did, he barely made it down to the dungeons for Potions, Avery giving him a look of annoyance as he slid into the empty seat beside him. Professor Slughorn gave him a look but Tom was saved by three Gryffindors arriving past the final bell. Double potions made the time pass slowly, especially since it was the first class and much of it was going over expectations and safety rules for the class. Professor Slughorn also tended to go off on rambling stories about himself and the important people he knew, which Tom filed away for future use.

When class dismissed everyone filed up the stairs back to the main hall for lunch and it was much more lively than it had been earlier that morning. With his nerves settling, he grabbed up a sandwich and some vegetables as someone pushed him over slightly.

"Bunch up," Tammy said, squeezing into the seat next to him- "Oye you, move," she sniped at one of the second years on the other side of her. She turned her head to Tom and gestured over her shoulder with her thumb, "Mia's saying hi to Justin then she'll be over."

Tom raised his eyebrows and smirked, just catching the look Nott was shooting him from up the table before he followed Tammy's finger and saw Mia giving the fifth year prefect a tight hug around the neck, which he was awkwardly returning.

"Here, switch," Tammy demanded, holding out her schedule for him to take and Tom reached into his bag at his feet and pulled the neatly folded parchment out from his potions textbook and handed it to her.

"I was hoping we'd have Potions together," she griped, leaning her elbow on the table, "I'm going to be pants at it- everyone in my family is."

"I don't know if I'm any good at Potions yet," he shot back with a smirk. " You have Transfiguration again after this?" He asked. He startled a bit when someone leaned on him and looked over his shoulder to see Mia leaning on both him and Tammy enthusiastically.

"Yeah, looks like all the Friday classes are doubled up," Mia complained, "Oh, can I see?" She asked excitedly, grabbing Tom's schedule out of Tammy's hands before she could reply.

"You already know what classes we have together," He said, rolling his eyes. He wasn't used to this level of friendliness out of others, but he found he liked it. The two girls were like open books and were easy to be around- he even forgot about how quiet it had been that morning at breakfast.

"Yeah, but it's cool seeing them different by house," Mia said, flopping down on the other side of Tom. "Like Defense Against the Dark Arts is one of our morning classes, but you don't have it until after lunch. At least the flying classes will start next week- too bad we're not in those together either."

"What time is it?" Tammy asked, swallowing. Tom hadn't even realized she'd grabbed a sandwich from the tray in front of them and had quietly stolen Tom's plate to eat it over.

Mia pushed up her robe and looked at her wristwatch. "Half-past twelve."

"I can't believe they only give us an hour for lunch," Tammy complained and slid Tom's plate back to him. He took it and grinned, grabbing the other half of his sandwich up and eating it. "Afternoon classes start right as it ends and then- zip, run back to Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws."

"While you're doing that I'll be sitting here digesting and then skimming at the library," Tom said and smirked when Mia groaned loudly.

"What are you doing in the library already?" Mia demanded, reaching up to tie her hair up into a messy knot.

"Just picking up something to read in my spare time," he said casually. And that wasn't a complete lie. Just that he was also going to be looking up everything he possibly could about the wizarding world so Nott didn't find out he was a raised as a muggleborn while he was at it. In Hogwarts, A History there was mention of prejudices in regards to blood purity within the wizarding community and he didn't particularly want his lie to caught onto immediately.

"I'm going to choose to pretend that there isn't a library for now," Tammy said a bit dramatically, grabbing a couple of chips off the tray. "There's going to be a bunch of reading assignments from the rest of our classes, but that's a problem for next week."

"What you just don't want to admit is that you're illiterate," Mia grumbled, grabbing some food and wrapping it in a handkerchief she'd pulled from within her robe. "I'm going to eat this on the way so we don't have to run, you ready Tammy?"

"I guess as ready as I'll ever be," The Hufflepuff griped, pushing herself up. "If we're not ready to collapse after class we'll find you in the library," Tammy said patting her hand on his head once. "Don't get into too much trouble without us."

"I'm sure I'll be fine," He said with a small smile and gave them a small wave and they began to head off towards the large doors of the Great Hall. A few other students were moving off as well with them, mostly Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaw first years, but some other older students were gathering their books as well.

"How do you know Ansel and Baggley?" Avery asked, catching Tom's eyes.

"We're friends," Tom said, for what felt like the first time ever in his life. It was best to keep it vague and clearly the girls thought of him as a friend, otherwise, they wouldn't have sought him out at the Slytherin table and pestered him during lunch.

"It makes sense Baggley got Hufflepuff, too bad Ansel didn't get put in Slytherin with us and her cousin," Avery said with a nod, poking his fork into some chicken on his plate.

"Wasted potential that," Mulciber said from a few seats up.

Tom kept his face blank, which seemed to be for the best as Nott took it up. "Yeah, everyone knows Hufflepuffs are all useless."

"Best not let one of our prefects hear you talking about his cousin that way," Tom said coolly, staring hard at Nott.

Nott had the decency to freeze and look up the table to where Justin was sitting with some of the other students.

"He's not wrong-" the second year girl Tammy had shoved over before said. She leaned in raising her eyebrows, "Sure most of the Hufflepuffs are completely useless but that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of strong family lines in there- Baggley's of the last of Hufflepuff's line after all and her uncle invented the Remembrall so clearly there's some brains over there."

"You would like them Juliet," the girl next to her said, "Isn't it true your sister is dating Griffin Bleiler?"

"Is that the 'puff who became Head Boy this year?" Mulciber asked.

"Yes," the second year, Juliet said, rolling her eyes, "Only you would find complaint with a straight-O, Head Boy, pureblood because he's a Hufflepuff, Burke."

There were a few snickers at that and the other girl, Burke, huffed loudly and turned to whoever was on her other side. "Besides," Juliet said, giving Tom a small smile, "I think Nott's just offended he's not the center of attention in the dorm, right?"

Tom couldn't say he liked the ribbing, but Juliet wasn't awful, so he returned the smirk and nodded his head in agreement. Nott, however, was not pleased and grabbed up his bag and stomped off.

"Oh no, I upset him, boys!" Juliet called teasingly after him.

"Do you really want to peeve him off though?" Mulciber asked curiously, "His father does work at the ministry in a rather high position." The second year didn't bother with a reply other than a shrug of her shoulders and gathered up her own bag. "You lot play your game, my sister and her duffer boyfriend are going to show me the fancy prefects bathroom they get to use, so have fun."

"They get a special bathroom?" Avery demanded, looking affronted.

Tom took the distraction and used it to grab his own bag and slip out the door as well. He wondered if maybe he should have asked the sorting hat to put him in Hufflepuff instead. Like he'd told Mia and Tammy he would, he spent most of the afternoon in the library. It was huge and he found himself a comfy chair wedged between two shelves in the back near the restricted section and began pouring over any books he could find that might help him pick out what a normal wizard would do and act like, instead of singling him out as a mudblood. He debated heavily on taking notes and then finally decided against it. If he was a half-blood it wouldn't be weird if he had some muggle tendencies, right? As long as he wasn't totally unaware of what was going on he should be able to keep out of Nott's way.

Dinner was much of the same. After a trip by the Slytherin dorm to drop his exploding bag off, he sat in what he was coming to think of as his spot near the end of the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, within throwing distance of the high table and Professor Slughorn's watchful eye. Nott was even further up the table than he had been earlier and he could see Mulciber and Avery sitting with a few of the first year girls and a mixture of the second and third years. Tom poked at his food, but he wasn't used to eating such filling food on such a consistent basis and he wasn't very hungry. He pushed some vegetables around his plate and had a few bites of dessert before he rose and decided to head back to his dormitory.

He was already falling in love with the castle and he'd been there only a day, it felt more welcoming than the orphanage ever had, no matter what Nott said or did. He ran a hand along the smooth stone of the wall as he took the stairs down towards the dungeons.

"Cunning before courage," He said quietly to the stone wall once he spotted the nick in the stone the prefects had pointed out the night before. The stone slowly slid to the side, similar to how the bricks in Diagon Alley had and Tom slipped inside before the stones could slide back into place.

Planning to grab on of the books from the library from his bag, he paid no mind to the rest of the common room until he heard his name.

"Tom, right?"

Tom paused and turned. Ansel- Mia's cousin was sitting on the couch with a book open in his lap. He still had his robes on and the prefect badge on his chest was lit up with the reflections of the fire from the fireplace, and his brown hair was tousled as though he'd run his hand through it.

"Yes, Justin Ansel, right?" Tom parroted back, resting a hand on the back of the couch in front of him.

Justin smirked and inclined his chin. "Done with dinner?" The prefect questioned.

Tom shrugged his shoulders and cocked his head, "Yeah, you too?"

Justin nodded, closing the book, "I have my prefect rounds in a few minutes so I had to eat early," he explained, putting his hands on his knees and pushing himself up from his seat.

There was a pause in the conversation and Tom wondered why the older boy had bothered when he continued on.

"Mia's fond of you," Justin said, tucking his book under his arm casually, "Tammy too, which is weird because she's always been more selective about who she'll let tag along, so that must mean you're decent enough." Tom didn't quite know what to make of this.

"Thanks?" Tom asked.

"Be careful though," The prefect warned, "I'm sure you've noticed most Slytherins don't take kindly to outsiders."

Tom raised his eyebrows slightly, "I've gathered as much."

"I'm sure you have…" Justin paused and fidgeted slightly, looking at his nails. "Listen, I don't usually poke my nose into the lower years business but I don't want my cousin hurt, so try to blend in. They won't bother you for being friends with Mia and Tammy because, one, Mia's my cousin and two, the three of us are from pureblood families, so outside of the girls being sorted into Hufflepuff, they don't have much ground to stand on."

"So you're trying to say that just because they're the exception to the rule doesn't mean I should go out of my way to make friends with students from other houses," Tom concluded.

Justin gave a smirk and began walking towards the entrance for the boys' dormitory and patted Tom on the shoulder.

"You catch on quick."

A/N: I am not a Slytherin and I have never claimed to be, so writing proper Slytherin is a challenge for me because it's easier for me to slip into ANY of the other three house's mindsets. So keep in mind, Nott is NOT Malfoy. Mulciber and Avery are not Crabbe and Goyle and they aren't going to go along with everything he says the moment he says it. Tom is kind of a joker card right now because Mulicer and Avery know nothing about him, so Mulicber doesn't want to piss him off immediately until he's learned more about him or made a decision on it. I am also trying to portray Slytherin as they are- kids in a house that have prejudices, but this is also isn't after the fuckery that was Voldemort's reign, so there's less prejudice and less strict lines of them vs us

Also, if you're enjoying Compassion and want to support me, please consider taking a look at my original fiction called Strongwind Academy. It's all posted for free on our website (Strongwind Academy . com) or on the WattPad ( wattpad dot com / user / strongwindacademy)


	7. First Year Blues: Intimidation Tactics

"You haven't heard a word I've said."

Tom blinked and turned back to look at Tammy and Mia who were both staring at him expectantly. They were repotting the bouncing bulbs and Herbology was enough of a practical class that it was usually easy to carry on a conversation without being overheard.

"I-" Tom paused and raised one of his gloved hands to wipe some dirt off his nose before nodding and sighing. "Yeah, sorry."

"Is something wrong?" Mia asked, her large eyes looking worried. He didn't know if she made that face on purpose or not, but either way it was always effective at making him feel guilty.

"Nott hasn't been giving you more trouble, has he?" Tammy growled, forcing the bouncing bulb into the pot, some of her hair falling into her face, causing her to spit angrily.

Tom shook his head. "Just the normal amount," he said, which wasn't a lie. It wasn't Nott who'd shoved him into the broom cupboard in the main hall and used a sticky charm to shut it up, causing him to miss his afternoon classes the day before. It had been his older cousin, Victor Hewitt, a fourth year with a nasty streak as bad as his cousin's. And it hadn't been Nott who had "accidentally" pushed him down the last landing of the stairs in the Great Hall before lunch that day. It had been a third year girl from Slytherin, one he recognized as one of Hewitt's friends.

"Good, I'll tell Justin to hex him if he is," Mia said, holding the pot steady as Tammy hissed at the bouncing bulb.

"Sit still!" She snapped, burying it under some dirt.

"So what's the matter then?" Mia continued, ignoring the way Tammy was trying to murder the poor plant via asphyxiation.

"Nothing really," Tom said, not that he didn't trust telling the two girls about what was going on. Tammy took care of herself well enough, she'd already punched one of the Gryffindor boys in the nose in one of the Charms classes, something multiple of the Hufflepuffs has told him with glee, leaving Tammy to look fairly smug the rest of the week. Mia had Justin glaring at people over her shoulder if they so much as looked at her wrong and she was too nice overall to draw any sort of bad attention. They'd just worry and he didn't want them to.

"Are you worried about that Defense test?" Mia continued on, "Cause you're going to get everything right again, y'know Professor Merrythought told us we should have you tutor us if we needed help because you get top marks."

Tom felt the tips of his ears grow red and he ducked his head. Defense Against the Dark Arts was one of his favorite subjects, but he also spent an absurd amount of time in the library, reading and studying. He didn't want any excuse to be kicked out of Hogwarts and sent back to the Wool's.

"Come off it," Tammy snapped and Tom wondered if he should take the pot and unearth the bouncing bulb before she killed it, "Like I said, you're already helping me pass Potions and Astronomy is absolutely horrible if I don't get to spend the entire time mucking up your telescope."

"Is that your way of saying you need help with the Potions homework again?" Tom deadpanned.

"I will trade you my firstborn," Tammy said back, just as serious, causing Mia to choke on some spit.

"You already traded me that to help you with the first test," Tom said flippantly, taking Tammy's pot from her and gently clearing dirt off the bouncing bulb, enough so it would get air and sunlight, but not enough that it could bounce out of the pot.

"My second born then," She said and paused as Professor Beery swept passed them, checking their bulbs, giving an approving nod before heading off to the next group.

"You're getting the short end of this deal," Mia quipped when he walked away, "She's basically making you liable to take care of all her future children."

"Who said I'd even end up having kids," Tammy grumbled, pulling off her dragonhide gloves. "Sounds boring, getting married and being some housewife."

"That's the trick then, you promise me all these unborn children and don't have any," Tom said with a smirk, sliding the pot onto its spot on the shelf. "Besides, I'd never trust you with a child the way you handle plants."

"Fair enough," Mia agreed. They all paused as the bell rang and cleared the dirt off using the spell Professor Beery had taught them and gathered their things.

"I'm hungry," Tammy complained as they trudged out of the greenhouses. Tom shivered as he felt the slight nip in the air, wishing he'd brought his scarf along with him.

"We only just had lunch," Mia said simply, walking between the pair, wrapped her cloak more tightly around herself.

"She's only saying that because she forgot her Potions homework again," Tom said, earning a rough whack from Tammy's bag. He tried not to wince too much as it struck his side where he could feel a bruise forming from his trip down the stairs.

"Well, we have a break between now and Potions, and you don't have a class until Astronomy tonight," Mia said, blocking the bag from whacking Tom a second time, "Why don't we go to the library and we'll help her and I'll finish up the last paragraph I need to do."

"And don't you dare complain, you spend all your time in there anyways," Tammy grumbled, slinging the bag back onto her shoulder, what with Mia blocking her target.

"I would never," Tom said, smirking.

"You hanging out with your girlfriends again, Tom?" A voice called from behind them. Tom groaned, mostly inwardly but he may have made a noise out loud with the look Mia was giving him.

"Can't I curse him?" Tammy asked quietly, pressing her palms together as she looked back and forth between Mia and Tom, "Pretty please with sugar on top?"

"You don't know any curses," Tom grumbled, staring ahead of them decidedly, trying to avoid the other Slytherin.

"Oye, I'm talking to you!" Nott snapped, getting closer, "Don't think you can just ignore me you freak."

"Shove off, Nott," Tammy snapped over her shoulder, "We have better things to be doing with our time than dealing with you."

"I wasn't talking to you, pretty Hufflepuff Princess," Nott sneered. Avery and Mulciber were on either side of him, Avery looking decidedly uncomfortable and Mulciber looking bored, but neither seemed willing to stop their roommate, as was the norm. "Heir of Hufflepuff and Misses Ansel are a bit out of my pay grade."

"Come on," Tom said, turning again, "We don't have time for this," he said to Tammy, grabbing her elbow and turning her away to the doors of the Entrance Hall.

"I told you," Nott snapped, leaning forward, grabbing onto Tom's sleeve and jerking him backwards, "Don't. Ignore. Me."

Tom stumbled, his bag spilling everywhere, his books and papers tumbling out and his inkwell shattering, soaking everything. He tried to overcorrect himself and stumbled forward, his knees hitting the stone path and he scrunched up his nose as he reached to save his books from the ink.

Nott chortled and Avery made a snorting noise. The three Slytherin boys and other students coming up behind them all sidestepped the mess as Tammy and Mia kneeled down.

"Oh Tom…" Mia said. Tammy scrambled to grab papers out of the way of the spilling ink and the footsteps of other students coming up the path behind them.

"It's fine, I can get McDermott to fix it when we get to the library," he said, grabbing up the books that hadn't been soiled and shoving them back in his bag.

"No…" Mia made a face and looked down at his arm. Tom blinked and followed her gaze. Nott had torn his robe when he'd yanked it, revealing the large green and purple bruise on his arm.

"It's fine," Tom said quickly, yanking on the fabric to cover the mark, "I'm fine."

"What?" Tammy asked, looking up finally, "What do you mean?" She looked quickly from Tom to Mia. Mia bit her lip, clearly upset, torn between whether to tell her friend or not.

"I tripped earlier," He said instead, looking to Tammy, "I have a bruise on my arm and she's worrying about it."

Tammy blinked, pushing herself to her feet and holding the ink-soaked papers out in front of her. "Tom, don't lie to me like I'm an idiot."

Tom felt his ears burn again and he frowned and looked away. He was usually so good at lying, but the more time he spent with Mia and Tammy the easier it was for them to tell when he was. He didn't like it. It was the only thing he didn't like about their friendship.

There was a long pause between the three. Mia looked like she might cry and Tammy and Tom were both glaring anywhere but each other like their lives depended on it.

"Fine." Tammy finally said, turning to the doors, her face set with annoyance.

Tom inhaled slowly. I wanted to console her, lie, or tell a half lie that everything was fine and nothing weird was happening that he wasn't telling them about. It felt easier than them worrying about him, or the mental exhaustion that came over him when he thought about telling them about how Nott was trying to escalate things. Instead, he stayed quiet and followed the girls up to the library, where the fussy matron happily fixed up Tom's sleeve and his papers and books, fixing the broken inkwell and returning the ink to it. She even accepted Tom's excuse about the bruise on his arm without question, despite Mia's frown.

"Right as rain," the woman said happily, levitating Tom's items back to him. "Now don't get ink on my books, they're liable to bite if you do.

"Yes Madam McDermott," Mia said dutifully and the matron moved off to finish checking in books that had been left.

"Do you have any transfiguration homework?" Tammy asked, pulling her books out of her bag when they grabbed one of the tables.

Tom paused and then nodded as he slid into a seat, "Just about done with it."

"Give it here," she said, holding her hand out, the other already flipping her potions books open. "I'll go over it for you since that's the only thing I think I'm vaguely better than you in."

Tom swallowed and nodded pulling the parchment out. He could hear Mia getting out her book and parchment as well, but Tammy was staring at him.

"If you don't want to tell us what's going on- you don't have to," Tammy said quietly, looking down at the parchment he'd handed her. "But… just don't lie about it, okay?"

Tom paused and then nodded, "Okay."

"No," she snapped, looking up at him, her eyes glaring daggers at him, "I'm serious, you can say you don't want to tell us but don't just lie or say you're fine when you're clearly not."

Tom shifted uncomfortably and looked over to Mia, but she was still staring at her parchment, refusing to look at either of them.

"Okay," He said finally, "I promise."

Tammy visibly relaxed and nodded. "Thanks… Are they all like that?"

"Who?" Tom asked, taking Tammy's open potions book.

"Slytherins," She said. He'd never heard her say the word like that, like some kind of bad title, dripping with venom.

Mia's head finally shot up, her eyes narrowed, "Justin's not-"

"I know Justin's not, he's been giving me piggyback rides for the last seven years of my life," Tammy shot back at her best friend before looking at Tom again. "But what about the rest of them? I know Avery, Mulciber, and Nott are all shits, but I've talked a little with Sable and Delaney in class, they seem decent enough, even if Eaton and Hornby are both a bit… rough."

Tom blinked. He knew the names, obviously, he'd been at Hogwarts for two months, but he'd honestly had very little interaction with anyone besides Tammy and Mia, and his day to day avoidance of Nott, Mulciber and Avery. Even the girls in his year he'd only had the briefest of conversations in passing, usually about classes or homework. They avoided him like the plague and he returned the favor. He had two friends and that was more than he'd ever had before, he didn't particularly feel the need for more.

"I've never been good at making friends, I just… ignore them for the most part," he said simply instead.

Tammy snorted. "That's an understatement."

"I think he means he's quiet and introverted," Mia said simply, looking at Tom with something that he couldn't place. "I think he intimidates them."

Tom frowned, his eyebrows knitting together. "Me?"

"Well, yeah," she said, tapping her quill on her book. "Think about it- they all know each other- Nott, Muliber, Avery, Eaton, Royston, Jennings and Hornby," She said, ticking off all the Slytherins in first year besides Tom, "Along with the rest of the purebloods from the other houses. We all grew up knowing each other, even at least just vaguely, but they have no idea who you are, and they can't just ignore you like they would with someone from another house, because they have to share a bedroom and a common room with you- you live in their space."

"That doesn't explain why I'd intimidate them," Tom said, jotting down the main points of the potions homework for Tammy to rewrite as her own.

"Because like you said, you ignore them." Mia said with a shrug, "I don't think Nott has ever had someone he considers an equal or a lesser ignore him. So that puts you in a category off on your own, something they don't know quite what to do with," she explained, taking the parchment from Tom to add to her own homework. "And you're also topping out in almost all our classes, a nobody from London they've never heard of beating all of them in the game of grades."

There was a stunned silence as Tammy and Tom stared at Mia and she blinked back at them. "What? Did I say something rude?"

"I think that's the most insightful thing I've ever heard you say," Tammy said, sounding impressed. "And that's a lot of years to hold that shite in- I didn't know you paid that much attention to all of it."

Mia frowned, dipping her quill into her ink. "Just because I'm nice and bubbly doesn't mean I'm dim. Mum and Dad took me to plenty of those pureblood parties with Justin and they all move around like hawks, waiting for a mouse to pop up."

Tom was also impressed. Mia was very emotionally intelligent, she always seemed to know what he or Tammy was feeling or what they needed to cheer them up, but he'd never noticed her paying attention to everything on a broader scale before.

"So what should I do then, in your expert opinion," Tom asked.

"Nothing," Mia said simply, and at Tom's frown, she elaborated, "Honestly, Tom, you think I'm going to tell you to act differently just because they're all a bunch of prats? Learn some spells and stand up for yourself so Nott doesn't do whatever got you that bruise-"

"It wasn't Nott," He said simply.

"Whoever it was then- if you don't do something he's going to keep it up." Mia finished.

Tom looked to Tammy, who was leaning her chin her palm, her elbow propped up on the table. "What are you thinking?"

"Honestly? No clue. Slytherins confuse me, if you want to say something, then say it to my face," she said, leaning back with a sigh, "I wouldn't be able to put up with this, I'd have already learned a book of curses and used all of them." She paused as Tom slid her the parchment paper so she could begin writing down her Potions homework. "Do you ever wish you were put into another house?"

Of course he had. He'd even put a little bit of thought into what the hat had said about being a Gaunt, but it was clear the hat knew more about who Tom was than he'd let on during the sorting, and maybe that was why he was sorted into Slytherin.

"A couple of times," he admitted, "But honestly, outside of Nott- I like it. It's quiet in the common room most of the time, people leave me alone. It feels like more of a home than I've ever had."

"Even with your uncle?" Mia asked, frowning.

Tom nodded, "We never got on great," he lied and hoped Mia wouldn't push it further. She'd only had asked a couple of times here and there before about the uncle he'd made up on the Hogwarts Express, and no one else had at all.

They spent the rest of the time helping Tammy finish up her Potions homework and she had just enough time to make a few suggestions on his transfiguration homework when the bell rang.

"Ugh, kill me now," Tammy groaned loudly, shoving her books into her bag, "I don't want to deal with Slughorn."

"Just focus on not blowing up your cauldron this time," Tom said with a smirk, watching the two pack up.

"One time!" She hissed, "That was one time!"

"It was actually the third time," Mia said to him quietly and the pair jogged out of the library, missing the wrath of McDermott for not walking. Tom smirked and gathered his belongings. The table was good for working, but he preferred the reading chairs in the back, so he planned to nip to the loo before settling down with the book on Medieval Wizardry he'd been reading. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, giving McDermott a small wave, but she was busy levitating books to their proper shelves.

He pushed the door open to the lavatory right beside the library and heard raised voices. He paused at the noise, instinctively pushing himself against the wall.

"I'll report you to a prefect!" Someone said. A boy, which made sense given they were in the boys' bathrooms.

"And what will they do?" Tom didn't recognize the other voice. They were likely from another house. He debated walking back out and going up a floor to another bathroom, but the boy continued on, "Nothing, that's what, you're just a scared first year, after all, no one cares, so pass it over and I'll leave you be."

Tom frowned decided against leaving. Instead, he turned the corner like he could hear Tammy in the back of his mind yelling at him to intervene. He knew the younger one, they had classes together- Lupin, right? "There you are Lupin, I thought you'd forgotten about me." He said loudly with a large smile on his face, "Come on, I need help with that Transfiguration homework."

Lupin, who was plastered against the corner of the wall looked from the taller boy in front of him to Tom and then slowly nodded. "Uhh, yeah, s-sorry."

The other boy, an older Gryffindor turned and glared at Tom. "Sod off, we're having a conversation, you can wait for him in the library." Lupin had begun inching his way out of the corner but the boy saw, drawing his wand and Tom drew his as well, pointing it at the throat of the boy in front of him.

"What are you going to do, snake?" The older boy taunted, looking at Tom out of the corner of his eye. "Shoot sparks at me?"

Tom felt the corner of his lip twitch. "Sure, want to see?" The older boy's eyes narrowed at the confidence in Tom's voice. "Incendio!" The boy flinched, dropping his wand as flames shot out of Tom's wand at him, setting the nape and the back of the boy's robes on fire. Tom leaned forward and grabbed Lupin's arm, dragging him out of the bathroom as the other boy cursed behind them. It wasn't until they hit the doors of the library, near the line of sight of McDermott's desk that they both paused, panting heavily.

"That was brilliant," Lupin said breathlessly. "Whenever I have to use that one I only get a few sparks!"

Tom swallowed and nodded, "I've been practicing."

"Well, it paid off…" Lupin trailed off and then straightened up. "Seriously mate, I owe you one, Clark's been on me all week."

"What for?" Tom asked.

"It was my birthday last week and my mum and dad sent me some money to owl order some things if I want, or to send my older brother with when he goes to Hogsmeade." He explained and then held out his hand. "I don't think we've ever talked outside of class, I'm Lyall Lupin."

Tom took the hand and shook it, "Tom Riddle."

"You're the one Nott has it in for, right?" Lupin asked, "Me and some of the guys have heard him talking about putting you in your place. What did you do to piss him off?"

"Existed?" Tom asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"Sounds about right," Lupin said and sighed. "Well, since I owe you, do you actually need help with transfiguration? Don't you have top marks in all the classes?"

"I don't think Dumbledore likes me," Tom admitted. He'd thought it would be nice, having met the man before having started classes but the ginger seemed to ignore him if he could and didn't act familiar with him. One of the older Slytherins said it was because Professor Dumbledore was the Head of Gryffindor, and disliked the Slytherins as a whole, but he wasn't so certain about it. He didn't pointedly ignore the other first years Slytherins when they raised a hand in class.

"I'm done with my homework for tomorrow," Tom added on, "but I'll keep it in mind for next time."

Lupin shot him a warm smile, "Great. I'll have to hit you up for help in Defense, Merrythought said you were the one to ask, but, y'know, you're kind of-" He waved a hand like he couldn't think of the right word.

"Kind of what?" Tom asked, frowning.

"Y'know, stand-offish? Like you don't want to be bothered by other people." Lupin explained, a bit of red coloring his cheeks, "Sorry, I couldn't think of a better way-"

"It's fine," Tom cut in, shaking his head, "I guess I am. I'm not used to people wanting to talk to me, I guess. I don't mind helping though."

"I'll pass the word around then," Lupin said with a smile, "Thanks again, see you tonight for Astronomy," the other first year said, waving as he walked off. Tom watched him go and wondered what Nott would do if he found out Tom was helping a Gryffindor.

**A/N:** Posting this tonight because I'm currently on a mountain in the middle of Nowhere Georgia for a family reunion. It's nice and I'm enjoying the trip, but we're in a cabin with no wifi and my sister needed a hotspot to do her homework so I'm stealing it to post the chapter a little early.

We're moving along and meeting more of the players in this chapter. Yes. Lyall is Remus's father, we don't know anything about Remus's family outside of his mom and dad so Lyall gets an older brother because why not. I deem it so. As always, this is something I'm doing in my spare time, but I do have all the chapter planned out up until the reboot of Empathetic, and a good bit already written out. If you want to support me or read more of my writing, I'd really appreciate it if you checked out my original works at **Strongwind Academy dot com**, or on our WattPad, if that's your preference (**wattpad dot com (/) user (/)strongwindacademy**) [remove spaces and parenthesis]

Part of the reason I write fanfiction is my need for a story that hasn't been written yet, but I also enjoy hearing feedback from the readers, and we really need that over on Strongwind Academy, so if you have any time at all, we'd love your feedback. Thanks!


	8. First Year Blues: Happy Christmas, Tom

When Slughorn came around and asked- a bit in a bored manner- if _anyone_ would be staying at Hogwarts during winter break, Tom realized something. _Everyone_ in Slytherin was going home for winter break.

Except _him_.

He'd waited until Slughorn was retreating to his office with an empty list to quietly add his name, surprising the portly man, who then cheerfully patted him on the back and told him that he and several of the other professors would be remaining behind, along with students from other houses. There had been a moment of melancholy, thinking about the fact that all of the Slytherins, even the nasty ones who had been tormenting him since he'd begun at Hogwarts, got to go home to actual homes, with families and friends and loved ones. But Tom quickly brightened at the idea. He'd be alone, sure, but even if he was the only student left, that would mean he could have Hogwarts and Slytherin House to himself. No worrying about Nott, his cousin or their friends. No need to tuck himself away in the library when he could actually lounge in the Slytherin common room.

But that was in the middle of November, and after a month passed, he'd almost forgotten about it all- midterms were upon them and Lyall and Mia looked like they were going to cry. Tammy looked like she was going to throw a book at one of the windows, and the rest of the first years looked like some combined mixture of the two.

Despite Justin's warning the first day of classes- their study group had grown. It had started just as Tom had intended to, at first. Just a study group. After he'd helped Lyall, the boy did indeed ask him one day after their flying classes when he could join him for some help on homework. The first couple times it had been just him along with Mia and Tammy, and Tom figured he could keep the entire thing under the radar from Nott, but then Lyall had shown up _another_ Gryffindor boy, this one named Keegan Chadwick, the round-faced boy with the wild dirty blonde hair Tom had seen getting his wand on his trip to Diagon Alley.

Chadwick, as he preferred to his given name, was absolute shite at all things involving a wand, as evidence from accidentally toppling a whole shelf of books in the library one day, and was doing only moderately well in all of his classes _except_ for History of Magic and Potions. He was the only student in the History of Magic class outpacing Tom and close behind him in Potions, and Tom decided letting _one_ more Gryffindor hang about to study would be worth it. Especially because Chadwick actually had a few learning tricks to help memorize the Goblin wars and what witches and wizards were caught in what order. He would also make excellently hilarious sarcastic remarks about all of the events and notable people that helped them stand out better in Tom's mind and Tammy was usually gasping for breath by the time Chadwick finished reading a paragraph. Sometimes, while listening to Chadwick talk and schmooze up the other students in their class, he wondered how the hell he'd gotten Gryffindor and not Slytherin.

Then at the beginning of December, Mia had shown up with Delaney Royston, one of the Slytherin girls from their year, who was a sobbing mess. Tom side-eyed her as Mia and Tammy herded her off to the girls' lavatory and Lyall and Chadwick shared an uncertain look. When the girls came back they plopped Delaney down and immediately included her in their studying, despite not having her things or any books of her own with her. Tammy kicked Tom's shin roughly under the table when he looked too long at the Slytherin girl out of the corner of his eye.

The Hufflepuffs girls revealed later on as they were headed to dinner that one of the Slytherin girls in the upper years had insulted Royston and stolen her bag and thrown most of her notes and books into the lake. Tom helped Mia and Tammy replicate his notes hurriedly to give to the other Slytherin girl for their next study session and when he handed her his portion of the notes, she burst into tears again and threw her arms around Tom, startling the boy enough that Tammy looked like she was going to double over from laughter. Tom awkwardly patted the girl's head while she cried into his shoulder until she finally calmed down enough that they were able to begin their revisions.

Sable Jennings, Delaney's best friend, was there at the next one and Tom realized they were outgrowing the library, but with two Gryffindors, two Hufflepuffs and three Slytherins, they didn't really have a better place to meet.

* * *

"If I have to look at another astrological chart I will gouge my eyes out," Tammy groaned loudly, her face pressed comically into the open Astronomy book in front of her.

"I think you have them down now at least," Sable complimented, turning a page over in her own textbook.

"What is everyone doing for Christmas?" Mia piped up suddenly, closing her textbook. "It's almost dinner so there's no point starting the revision on the next chapter." Tom's inside froze at the thought- he didn't mind telling Tammy and Mia, or even Lyall or Chadwick that he was staying at Hogwarts, but he didn't know how he felt about Sable and Delaney knowing about it. They'd been decent so far, but he didn't know if he could trust them to not mention it offhandedly to someone else in Slytherin that he'd be staying behind.

"Going home with you likely," Tammy said, voice muffled by the book.

"I'll also be heading home for the break," Delaney said, closing her book as well and picking her bag up into her lap to began shoving everything inside it. "We were invited to the Black's annual Christmas Party, so that's where I'll be Christmas Eve."

"Mum said we were invited as well," Mia said, leaning back in her seat, "So I don't know if we will, we usually go to the Yule festival in the village with the other wizarding families."

"I'm headed home too," Lyall said, haphazardly throwing his belongings into his bag. "We'll spend a few days at home, then we're headed to Germany to see my mum's parents."

"Home as well," Sable said, swinging her bag onto her shoulder as the final materials were cleared from the table. "I'll likely be at the Black Christmas Party, but then we're spending the second week of the break in London with my Great-Aunt."

"Ugh, go on and leave me all of you," Chadwick griped. "Mum is visiting her sister in the States and I'll be staying here. She owes me a good present for that."

"What about you, Tom?" Lyall asked.

There was no use in lying about where he'd be, no matter how anxious letting the two Slytherin girls know made him. "I'll be staying as well."

"You're not going home to see your uncle?" Tammy asked, holding the door open for the rest of the group as they filed out.

Tom shook his head, "He'll be out of the country, I'd rather stay here, honestly."

"There you go, Chadwick," Lyall said, grabbing him and Tom around their shoulders, "You'll have someone here after all!"

"Hoo-ray," Chadwick said in a bored voice. "Shall I smuggle him into Gryffindor and drop him off the tower?"

"Now I'm not going anywhere with you at all," Tom said with a slight smirk.

"I think Tom would outclass you in weight and wandwork, so I have no clue how you'd even get him up there," Delaney said in an amused tone, tucking some of her dark hair behind her ear.

"Where _is_ Gryffindor's dormitory?" Tammy asked, looking to the two boys.

"I don't think we're supposed to tell each other where they are," Sable said with a slight frown.

"Well that's rubbish," Tammy griped, "Is there an actual rule about it? Are we not allowed to have friends from other houses stop by for a visit?"

"_You_ never visit Tom in Slytherin," Delaney pointed out.

"Well, he's never _invited_ me now has he?" Tammy shot back. "Besides, I know it's near enough to our dorms anyways, we always walk down the stairs together after dinner.

"Hufflepuff's and Slytherin's dorms are underground?" Chadwick asked, sounding interested.

Delaney gave Tom a look like it was his fault they were on this topic and he flipped it back on the Gryffindor, "I suppose both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor are up in the tallest towers then."

"Yup," Lyall said simply and when Chadwick gave him a look he rolled his eyes, "Oh come off it, the three tallest towers are the Astronomy Tower, the Gryffindor Tower, and the Ravenclaw Tower, three guesses where the dorms are." He ticked the three towers off on his fingers and then held them up at the rest of the group like they were a load of duffers.

Tom supposed he was right- not about the duffers part. He hadn't put much thought into where Gryffindor and Ravenclaw's dorms were, but he had heard his classmates refer to the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tower before.

"Hufflepuffs and Slytherins," Mia said excitedly, "The ground dwellers, in an alliance against the tower dwelling Gryffindors and Ravenclaws." She sighed and the boys all rolled their eyes, while Sable and Tammy laughed.

"Sounds like we need some Ravenclaws to bolster our numbers, Lupin," Chadwick grumbled.

"Well don't get into too much trouble without us," Tammy said, "I'll ask Mum and Dad if next year you both can join us in the village."

"Next year my Mum likely won't be in the States, but thanks either way," Chadwick said with a shrug, sounding bored. "You can just fold Tom in half and shove him in a suitcase and it's taken care of." The comment earned odd looks from the three Slytherins, but Lyall, Mia, and Tammy didn't seem to take much notice of it.

As they approached headed down the stairs, Lyall and Chadwick pulled ahead to walk separate from Tom and the rest of the girls. Sable and Delaney naturally moved to walk slightly to the side and ahead of Tom, Tammy, and Mia, while Tammy and Tom closed ranks on Mia, who was still talking excitedly about Christmas break. The separation was normal- Chadwick and Lyall didn't want to deal with some of the more problematic people in Gryffindor who would be pissed about them hanging out with the Slytherins, and Sable and Delaney didn't want Nott breathing down their necks about Lyall and Chadwick, along with Tom. It was a silent understanding between the lot of them that outside of the library, where they could easily explain it as "this is only for studying, we're not _friends,_ ew gross," they didn't really acknowledge each other.

"I'm thinking about taking up knitting," Mia was saying, "Then I could make you both something for Christmas, obviously for next year, I wouldn't have enough time to finish anything if I started it now. My mum does it by hand, but I know when she's busy and trying to finish something she has a few spells to keep it going."

"I already picked out what I got for the lot of you," Tammy said, picking at her nails as they slowed on the last staircase, so Sable and Delaney could get a bit ahead of them.

Tom felt his stomach turn over. "You mean for Mia and Justin, then?" He prodded gently, just a bit worried about her answer.

Tammy gave him a side look, "No, you twat, I got something for everyone, gonna owl it to you the night before, same with Chadwick and Lyall and the other girls."

The knot in his stomach tightened. He didn't have any money to purchase any gifts with, and no artistic ability to _make_ anything. What the hell was he supposed to do?

"I was going to give Tom his present before we left on the train," Mia said, all smiles completely unaware of the severe panic attack the two girls were inspiring in the boy, "But if you're owling yours on Christmas Eve, I'll send mine along then." She turned and teasingly prodded Tom in the side, "That way you can't be tempted to open it beforehand."

He was most definitely going to be sick.

* * *

Midterms were quite easy, all things considered. Between studying and working himself up over trying to figure out what the _hell_ he was going to get for Tammy and Mia for Christmas, he'd scarcely been eating. By the time he actually had to sit and take his exams, it wasn't nearly as bad as he'd been making it out in his head and he was able to turn his attention back to his problem of _Christmas Presents._ Not that he'd ever had a proper present before, so this had never been a problem in the past. At the orphanage, they'd sometimes make crafts and they would exchange them, but none of the other kids his age had ever given him anything. Sometimes the younger children would give him drawings.

It didn't help that time was running short. Winter break started on Friday, the day before Christmas Eve, and he helped Tammy and Mia get down to the station, accompanying them to board and let Mia hug him tightly before they both waved out their window. He slipped off the platform as the rest of the students were loading up before anyone could realize that he didn't have a bag of his own with him and he wasn't getting on the train. He'd thought, as he walked back to the castle, maybe a potion would make a good gift. He could probably kiss up to Slughorn and claim it was for practice, but any of the potions he could try and make as a first-year weren't really useful to Tammy or Mia, and a flip through the second year potions book he looked at in the library didn't show anything useful either.

He spent the better part of that Friday looking through every book in the library trying to find something he could do. He found a book on the animation of toys, but that would require toys, now wouldn't it, and he shoved it back on the shelf with a scowl. He thought about what Mia had said about knitting, but as she had said, he didn't have the time to complete anything, let alone the knitting needles or the yarn, not that he knew how to knit in the first place.

Becoming quite desperate that night, he dug through his trunk, looking for something, _anything_. He just needed an idea. As he unloaded the contents of his trunk for the first time truly since arriving, given he didn't have to worry about any of the other boys wandering in and seeing it all, he finally came across it.

Tucked under a pair of his everyday clothes that were worse for wear and he'd been avoiding at the bottom of the trunk was the pocket knife one of the older boys from the orphanage gave him. At first, his eyes skimmed over it, since a knife wouldn't make a good gift, but then his mind flashed to the little wooden animals that Jack would make for the younger kids, and the snake he'd carved for Tom before giving him the knife. Tom wasted no time. He's only wittled with it a few times, all back during the summer when he'd been bored, and he'd only been able to make a few half-way decent creatures. But maybe if he stuck to something easier, he could manage.

* * *

"What in Merlin's pants are you up to?" Chadwick asked, popping up next to him as he strode out of the Great Hall after lunch.

"Heading out to get something," Tom said a bit curtly, still lost in thought. He'd already settled on a cat for Tammy and an owl for Mia. He was hoping that he'd be able to finish them and get them sent out by the next afternoon in time for Christmas.

"_Get_ something? You planning to haul a bunch of snow or in here?" The Gryffindor demanded, looking at Tom like he was a bit mad. "Or are you planning an impromptu escape to Hogsmeade?"

"I need wood." He explained, but not really, because Chadwick was still staring at him like he was mad.

"What would you need wood for?" He asked with exasperation, "You do realize the house elves keep the fires going all the time right? You don't need to go gather up wood for us like some muggle."

"No, I need it for a project," Tom said, equally exasperated.

"Midterms are done," Chadwick said in a deadpan voice, still staring at him like he'd lost it. "There _are_ no projects left to do, Tom."

"No, I'm making Mia and Tammy a Christmas present," Tom said with a loud sigh. They had paused in front of the large hourglasses by the front doors of the Great Hall that marked their points. "They mentioned they got everyone something and I didn't get anything for anyone and it's a bit late to buy anything," Tom said, part truth part lie. He didn't want Chadwick to know he didn't have any money, else he'd question why he didn't just ask his uncle for some.

"Fair enough," the Gryffindor said instead, "What are you going to make using wood though?"

"A friend of mine in London taught me how to make little animals out of wood," he explained, shivering as he opened the doors of the Great Hall and stepped out into the snow. "I'm going to carve them something and owl it off tomorrow." If he got it done in time.

"Huh," Chadwick said shortly, but he didn't wander off like Tom expected him to. No, instead he followed Tom out to one of the trees on the grounds, watching as Tom kicked snow over, looking for signs of fallen branches.

"Wouldn't the wood need to be dried out?" Chadiwck asked suddenly and Tom groaned. Crap. He hadn't thought about that, and anything he found would be buried in the snow and soaking wet. Tom reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to think. He frowned and turned, looking around to Chadwick.

"Hey, have you ever seen any of the Hogwarts house elves?" Tom asked.

Chadwick raised an eyebrow, pulling off his maroon beanie to shake some snow off of it. "'Course not, they wouldn't be very good house elves if we did, yeah?"

"But if I wanted to nick a bit of firewood from them," Tom said slowly and Chadwick's eyes widened and he nodded slowly in thought.

"Ah, true-" He paused as he looked to the castle, "We could ask Weasley."

"Who?" Tom didn't recognize the name, and there weren't exactly many people left at Hogwarts for the Break.

"Septimus Weasley." Chadwick repeated, pulling his hat back on, "He's a sixth-year Gryffindor, one of the blokes on the Quidditch team- all the girls are _mad_ about him. He stayed for the break too- he's always bringing snacks back to the tower after Quidditch matches, he's bound to know something about it."

Tom paused and then shrugged, "Sure, why not."

"You don't exactly have anything to lose," Chadwick said dryly as they headed back to the castle. "Why the hell didn't you think to get them a gift in the first place? Mia and Tammy only spend all their free time hanging about you. They're smitten."

Tom blushed, feeling the crimson spread across his cheeks to his ears, "No, they're not."

"Even if they aren't, aren't they your best friends?" the Gryffindor said, looking at him pointedly.

Tom glared at the other first year. "I- My uncle and I never did presents really, so I didn't think about it until the other day when they mentioned it."

Chadwick gave him a look like he was weighing what he was going to say or deciding something, either if he believed him or what he wanted to say in return, but then he just shrugged. He grabbed the door and held it open for Tom as they slipped back into the Great Hall. "He was headed up to Gryffindor Tower when we were leaving lunch, you're not exactly allowed in, I don't think-"

"I'll just wait outside," Tom agreed. He finally had Slytherin house all to himself and he didn't particularly want to invite anyone in, so he didn't feel bad about Chadwick not inviting him into the Gryffindor tower. It took a bit to climb the stairs and as they did Tom could feel how empty the castle felt. They encountered no one in the halls, except for the Fat Friar, who was floating along and talking to some of the portraits on the walls. When they finally got up the seventh floor of one of the towers, Tom leaned against the wall as Chadwick went around the corner. He wondered if he should take a peak, but he didn't particularly feel like having Chadwick be cross with him, so instead, he took note of all the portraits that were hung along the walls.

"Tom, right?"

Tom looked over his shoulder as Chadwick and a tall ginger haired boy came around the corner. "Yeah, Septimus, right?"

"That's me," The older boy said, holding out a hand and Tom took it and shook. The boy's grip was strong, but it didn't yank Tom's arm or anything or sneer at him, so it was going well enough already. "But you can just call me Sep, everyone else does."

"Alright, Sep," Tom agreed easily. "Did Chadwick-"

"Yeah, about the house elves," Sep said, leaning against the wall, shoulder resting between two large paintings. "Okay so it's kind of a secret so don't go spreading it around yeah? I heard last time too many students knew how to get in they moved it on us." Tom nodded his head and Sep continued on. "Have you ever walked by the large painting under the Great Hall that's a giant bowl of fruit?"

Tom blinked and nodded. They had to walk past it on the way down to the dormitories, near the hall where he would split off from Tammy and Mia to go to their own dorms.

"There's a giant pear and if you poke it or tickle it until it giggles, it'll turn into a handle and you can open it and get into the kitchens," Sep explained, "That where most of the house elves spend their time."

"Why a bowl of fruit?" Chadwick asked, scrunching up his nose, "And why the hell did they make it so they have to tickle a pear?"

Sep shrugged, making a face that clearly said "don't ask me", "Because Dippet's nuts? I don't know. I heard the last place it was they had some mad knight guarding it, so I'll take the giggling pear."

The first years looked at each other and then shrugged in agreement. "So that's it?"

"Yup," Septimus said, pushing himself off the wall. "But, be nice to them, yeah? If you're polite and say please and thanks they'll worship the ground you walk on."

"I'll keep that in mind," Tom said with a nod. "Thanks."

"No problem," Sep said with a wave of his hand, "See you at dinner tonight when they only have a handful of students they store the tables and give us one for everyone to sit at with the staff." The sixth year boy wandered back up what appeared to be a dead-end hallway and Tom respectfully turned and began walking away.

"Tickle a pear," Chadwick was muttering as they headed back to the stairs, "They're all mad, I swear."

"_You're_ the one rhyming over here." Tom quipped, earning a punch from the blond. "What do house-elves look like?" He asked speculatively.

"I dunno," Chadwick said with a shrug as they jogged down the stairs and paused as they waited for one of the moving staircases to line up with their platform. "I've never seen one, Mum said her parents had one when she was a girl but it died well before me."

It sounded a bit barmy to Tom- having what amounted to a slave, but from what he'd read in Hogwarts, A History, it seemed they were pretty commonly accepted in the Wizarding World, so he tried not to question it. He had no doubt if he did it would get around in Slytherin House and it would be another nail in his coffin that Nott was trying to construct. Instead, he listened to Chadwick make quips and comments as they got back down to the ground floor.

"_This,_" Chadwick said with a puff, "This is why no one gains weight with all the food they put out for us."

Tom smirked. It had been quite a far walk, but he was taller than Chadwick and leaner. He could feel his calves ache a bit, so he just smirked at the other first year as they headed for the stairs down to the underground levels.

"I should have stayed upstairs and taken a nap while you decided to traipse all over the damn castle," Chadwick continued to grumblr as they headed up the hallways towards the giant painting Septimus had told them about. Tom was honestly a bit surprised the boy hadn't if only because while he seemed to hang out a bit with Lyall, he hadn't shown much interest in hanging around with Tom or the girls outside of their study groups. He supposed perhaps it was just the distance they'd created and maintained to make sure no one pestered them about it all, but despite his dry and funny remarks, he'd never really shown an interest in getting to know any of them.

_Or maybe it's because you're standoffish. _He could practically hear Mia's voice in the back of his head.

"What?" Chadwick demanded, staring at him, "Do I have something on my face?"

Tom blinked, realizing he'd been staring. "No, sorry."

"You're so weird," Chadwick said quietly and shook his head. "Do you want to tickle the pear already, or stand here and keep making dove eyes at me?"

"Dove eyes?" Tom asked, raising his eyebrows before leaning forward and wiggling his fingers against the large green pear.

A loud giggle came from the fruit as it twitched and tried to wiggle away from Tom's fingers. There was a pause, where both boys stared at the painting and then the pear slowly shifted and shrunk, coming off the canvas and forming a handle. Tom grasped it and pressed it down and the canvas swung inwards, opening into a short hallway. There was a large room at the end and it only took Tom a few moments to realize that the room itself appeared to be a replica of the Great Hall. Four tables were lined up where each of the houses had theirs and then a fifth sat at the front perpendicular like the staff's table did. There were creatures scurrying. They looked like- Tom was unable to summon the image of a creature to mind immediately. When he'd heard the term house elf, he'd thought a little of the fairy-type creatures that Miss Garter told all the little kids about, claiming they worked for Father Christmas, but they were far from that image.

"Good Afternoon young masters!" A voice squeaked and Tom turned to see one of the house elves by his side, holding a large bowl of cored apples. It had no hair and its ears were huge, and instead of clothes, it was wearing a potato sack cinched at the waist. "How can Gurdle serve you?"

Tom looked to Chadwick, who was also looking the creature up and down and then cleared his throat. "Uh, hello Gurdle, I wanted to know if you had any spare firewood I could have?"

Gurdle's big eyes blinked twice, looking a bit owlish. "Are Sir's fires running low?" The house-elf asked, looking a tad distressed. Tom couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a boy or a girl, but the poor thing looked like it might cry.

"Uh, no, sorry Gurdle, I just needed some dried out wood for a project- the fires are great," He added, tacking on a brilliant smile before subtly elbowing Chadwick.

"Ow- uh, oh yeah, great fires mate, they're always going nice and warm." The Gryffindor said with a quick nod before glaring at Tom.

Gurdle's lips spread in a giant smile and Tom realized a few other house elves were lingering around them, looking nervous. "Wonderful young masters! Gurdle and the other house elves have lots of wood sirs can use!"

Tom and Chadwick followed Gurdle past one of the tables, where the house elf placed the bowl of cored apples and wiped its- or his or hers, whatever they were- hands on a towel tucked into the cinched rope of the pillow sack and walked them up to a large fire at the front of the room behind what Tom thought of as the fake staff table. There were piles of wood on either side, stacked neatly and Gurdle smiled brightly again, looking pleased at fulfilling Tom's request.

"Thank you Gurdle, you've been very helpful," Tom said, looking to the house elf who blinked again, giving another large smile and a bow before turning back to the bowl of cored apples to continue on with their task.

"How much do you need?" Chadwick asked, looking at the piles.

"Uh, one log would probably be enough for two…" Tom thought about the design he had in his head again and moved forward to examine some of the logs.

"Hey, Tom…" Chadwick said slowly.

"Hm?" The Slytherin grunted noncommittally as she examined a hunk of cut wood.

"How much wood would it take if… we made more than two?" Chadwick asked.

Tom frowned and turned to look over his shoulder and realized Chadwick had turned bright red and was staring at the fire, avoiding Tom's gaze.

"Uh, it would depend on how many I make." Tom realized as the words came out of his mouth that Chadwick has said "we", implying he'd help. "Why?"

Chadwick sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, still looking at the fire, but the blush on his cheeks had lessened some. "I didn't get anyone anything either. No one mentioned anything to me and I don't… My mum doesn't have any spare money to give me to buy presents anyways."

Tom blinked. "But… You said your mum went to the States to see her sister?"

Chadwick's cheek twitched and he scowled at the fire, "Yeah, my aunt has been sending her money to keep the house up and to pay to take a ship over, but there's not much left and…" He finally looked up, "Sorry, just- don't tell anyone yeah? I don't need them knowing everything I own is from a secondhand shop and that my wand is my granddad's old one."

Tom stared at the Gryffindor, who was shuffling uncomfortably. It felt weird, realizing that he wasn't the only one putting on an act, lying to everyone around him about what was going on at home. He realized he was getting stuck in his own head again when he saw Chadwick shoot him a glare as if daring Tom to make fun of him.

"I saw you in Diagon Alley when I got my wand though," he said slowly.

"Mum brought it to Ollivander to make sure it was okay for me to use," Chadwick grumbled, looking to his feet. "He tried to insist I needed my own but we can't afford it right now."

"I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to," Tom said solemnly, earning a grateful look from the Gryffindor. "Does Lyall know?"

Chadwick shook his head. "Nah. My dad was a muggle and died when I was a kid and my mum's been working a muggle job to make ends meet so- I only met Lyall when we started school this year, unless you're part of the wizarding elite in London there's not many other families..."

Tom wondered if he should mention that he lived in London as well, but he didn't know if he was ready to tell Chadwick about the fact that he was an orphan living in an orphanage. It didn't seem quite fair not to, though, given what the other boy had just shared. And what if it did come out that he'd been lying the entire time, even through Chadwick's own confession?

"I live in London," He said finally, albeit on the quiet side, "and I've never met any of the other wizarding families either."

"I'm sure your uncle would introduce you if you asked him," Chadwick said glumly.

Tom bit the inside of his cheek and sighed. "I don't have an uncle."

There was a heavy pause and he could see Chadwick's eyes narrowing as he studied Tom. "So… who do you live with then?"

"I live in a place called Wool's Orphanage," Tom said quietly, mirroring what Chadwick had done before, staring into the fire as he said it, his arms wrapped around himself.

Chadwick ducked his head. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't know- well obviously I didn't know, but-"

"It's fine." Tom said curtly, "It's not so bad, not great obviously, but- I didn't want anyone to know, especially after I got sorted into Slytherin."

"Are you a muggleborn?" Chadwick asked curiously.

Tom shook his head, "The sorting hat said I was a half-blood," He explained, shortening the story down some. "My parents are just... dead, and I got stuck there."

They stood in silence for a bit. Tom didn't like thinking about it too much- what his parents were like, would be like if they were still alive. Ms. Cole had told him a little bit about his mother, but just what she looked like, since there wasn't much more to go on, and her name. Merope. And he knew nothing of his father except that he had his name and his grandfather's name as a middle name. After a few minutes passed Tom cleared his throat and pulled the knife out of his pocket and flipped it open so Chadwick could see it. "Have you ever whittled before? Or carved anything?"

Chadwick shook his head slowly, "Nah- forget I said anything. It was stupid."

Tom paused and looked around the room at the elves preparing food. "Actually… I think I have an idea."

* * *

Christmas Morning came bright and early, but Tom slept in. Father Christmas had only ever brought some sweets for the children at the orphanage and he'd long before gotten into the habit of sleeping in. It hadn't helped that he and Chadwick had stayed up fairly late the night before Christmas Eve- Tom trying to show Chadwick how to carve with a knife they'd gotten off the elves in the kitchen, but it was his first time and everything was coming out a bit rough. They went back down to the kitchens again the next morning and retrieved some more wood. They worked down there, away from prying eyes and out of the way of the elves and came up with a sort of rhythm. Chadwick was able to butcher the block down into a very basic shape and while he did that, Tom worked on another Chadwick had already done, carving the finer details out. It was still a bit chunky, not as smooth as the ones Jack was able to make, but by dinner time on Christmas Eve, they'd finished five animals for each of the members of their study group. Well, seven, since Chadwick ended up insisting on making Tom one and Tom decided he'd make the Gryffindor one as well. They got their packages out just in time and by the time Tom's head hit his pillow, he was out- no worried about what his first Christmas at Hogwarts would be like.

When he did finally wake up, it was to startle at the large great grey owl sitting at the foot of his bed. He had no idea how in Merlin's pants it had even gotten into the dorm, considering he was underground- perhaps Slughorn had let it in?

There was a pile of packages at the foot of his bed and the owl hooted shrilly at him and held out one of its legs, where a letter was tied tightly.

It took a bit of picking at the string before he got it loose and the owl hoo'ed gratefully and settled on the top of his bed post. He broke the wax and opened the letter, which was a collaborative mess from Mia and Tammy, wishing him a Happy Christmas and telling him to not have too much fun without them.

He carefully folded the letter and set it to the side before carefully selecting his first present. He'd settled on the blue and white wrapped package from Mia because she was the first person he'd befriended in the magical world and he felt it would be rude to start with anyone else. He unwrapped the package slowly, enjoying the anticipation that built up in his chest, making his stomach flop nervously. It was heavy and when he finally opened it he found a box filled with books.

They were a series, from the looks of it, heavily used, the words on the binding of one of them nearly worn away and he found a note pressed between a pair of books explaining that her mother had only been able to find the series second-hand, but they were Justin's favorite growing up and she thought that he would enjoy them. A quick flip through the first chapter of one of the books gave him the impression that it was similar to a wizarding detective series, with the main character being some broody older man. Tom smiled at the thought and carefully rounded up the books before resting them next to him and rooting around for Tammy's present, one wrapped in paper from the Daily Prophet.

This one required no note. Inside were two decks of cards, one the newest version of Exploding Snap that had come out, as well as a normal pack of playing cards, though they weren't the standard symbols, instead runes for the elements divided the cards and underneath both decks was a book, "50+ Games to Play with Family & Friends!" Tammy brought a pack of cards with her everywhere except class and whenever she was getting bored she got the cards out and shuffling them agitatedly until she found something better to do.

Chadwick's was next on principle since the boy had spent the previous day helping him with carving, and he ran his hand over the hawk that Chadwick had carved for him. It wasn't as detailed as the ones Tom had finished off for the girls and Lyall, but he'd still done a good job and Tom set it on top of the books, making it look like the bird was guarding them. Sable had sent him a pair of simple silver cufflinks with a quick note explaining that her father had told her every boy should have a pair for nice occasions, along with a few packages of candy, and another package from '_The Roystons_,' contained a set of beautiful leather bound notebooks. He found Lyall's package was squashed under the others since it was smaller, containing a series of patches from Germany and some candy labeled in what Tom assumed was also German and a note that Lyall had hurriedly signed with the simple greeting of "Happy Christmas!"

That left four presents that he was completely uncertain of.

He grabbed the closest one, which turned out to be a box signed, "Mr. & Mrs. Ansel & Justin," which was stuffed with homemade cookies and fudge and he grabbed a piece and chewed on it slowly as he grabbed another. Tammy had also put up her parents to sending him something and Mr. and Mrs. Baggley had sent him a smart-looking pair of black and grey ear muffs, as well as a gold badger lapel pin. He smirked, knowing Tammy had suggested both items since she'd pointed out to him that he needed to keep his ears warm on several occasions, and whenever they hung out Nott always called her the "Pretty Hufflepuff Princess."

A small box was signed "From Professor Slughorn," and Tom found a set of new quills and ink- the label claiming that they were of the "non-spillable" variety. It was likely a nod to the fact that Tom's ink was always "mysteriously" spilling in potions and in the common room, and he'd had to ask Slughorn to help him clean up his books a few times.

The last box, surprisingly enough, was labeled form 'the Avery's. The tag simply wished him a Happy Christmas and was signed from 'Mr. & Mrs. Fulton Avery, Miles Avery, & Prisilla Avery," in a neat flourish. Inside was a box of chocolates and Tom wondered if Avery's parents had simply sent them to him on principle, or if Nott had put him up to trying to poison Tom.

Once he'd carefully put everything inside his trunk, he took a shower and got dressed, enjoying the relaxed pace he was able to set, not having to worry about the rest of the boys in Slytherin waking up. After he dressed, he wrapped himself in his inter cloak, his Slytherin scarf and the new earmuffs that the Baggley's had sent and admired how well they went with his scarf.

Breakfast was a sleepy but happy affair. He found himself sitting in between Professor Slughorn and Chadwick, and after the initial thanks for his gift from his Head of House, he and Chadwick spoke of what they'd received and also wondered what the girls and Lyall thought of the figures they'd received. After breakfast was over and every was too content to do much running about Septimus asked Tom is he was any good at chess (he was not, unfortunately, he'd never had the chance to learn before), and the older Gryffindor boy retrieved his chess set from their dormitory and a small group set up in the library. A pair of older Ravenclaws girls who had also stayed joined them, along with a first year Hufflepuff boy. Tom had brought along the playing cards Tammy had sent and the girls shuffled them while Septimus explained the game.

After being trounced in several games, Tom managed to beat Chadwick, and then the Hufflepuff boy, Roswell Pratt- who blushed hotly when everyone sniggered at his last name. However both the girls, Lauretta Chase and Artemis Krepley, absolutely destroyed him as well, so his victory streak was no so long lived. Towards the end of the game with Artemis, as the group watched her Queen beat Tom's king to death with a sword, Lauretta suggested they head outside and make use of the fresh snow that had fallen that morning.

Tom had never had quite so much fun as that Christmas Day. Tammy had started a snowball fight with him when it had first started snowing back in November, but it had been short-lived due to homework needing to be done. This time, the six students spent several hours outside, building a few forts and pelting each other with snowballs. Two older Hufflepuffs ended up joining in, along with Professor Beery, their Herbology Professor, who accidentally got smacked in the side of the heat with one of Septimus's snowballs when he walked out to check on the greenhouses.

Septimus looked like he was going to die of embarrassment for a bit, but Professor Beery taught them how to make snowballs zoom towards their target and account for any last-minute dodges and the group only retreated back inside when Lauretta exclaimed that she could barely feel her fingers.

By then, dinner was coming up and the group went inside, cleaning up the mess of snow they dragged into the Great Hall with them and flopped down at the single table that filled the hall. He'd already begun piling his plate with food when he realized it wasn't Professor Slughorn beside him, but rather Professor Dumbledore. With how cool the Head of Gryffindor House had been to him since he'd begun, he avoided the man and carried on a conversation with Chadwick and Roswell, as Septimus on the other side told the rest of the staff in great exaggeration how he'd knocked Professor Beery off his feet when his snowball hit him.

At one point though, as Tom reached for a second-helping of turkey, he happened to make eye contact with the Professor to his right. Any other day he would have carried on ignoring the man, but just then he was so happy, so content with how everything was, he smiled brightly at the Professor. It seemed to take the Transfiguration Professor back for a moment, but then he returned a smaller smile.

"How has your Christmas been, Tom?" The man asked. "Did you receive any gifts?"

Tom smiled wider, "It's the best I've ever had," he said genuinely. "I received a few from my friends- I didn't realize they were getting me anything until right before midterms, so I had to rush to put something together for them, but I think it turned out good enough." He paused and then tact on, "How was yours, Professor?"

Professor Dumbledore was looking at him with that look that said more than it should like he was staring through him again. "It was good, Tom, I'm glad you're making friends. I will admit I was a little worried when you were sorted into Slytherin, but you seem to be doing well."

Tom nodded his head and said quietly, "The hat said it was where I'd be best, and I want to be the best wizard I can be."

Professor Dumbledore gave him another appraising look before nodded and turning back to his conversation with the professor on his other side. He didn't know what had made Professor Dumbledore so distant, outside of being sorted into Slytherin, but he hoped that this meant he wouldn't be ignoring him in Transfiguration anymore.

Tom had anticipated not being able to sleep after the day's events and festivities, but by the time he'd changed into his pajamas and crawled into his bed, the good food and excitement of the day finally caught up with him and he was falling asleep by the time his head hit the pillow.

A/N: Well that was a long chapter, it even beat out Diagonally in word count, it's two-three times the length of a normal chapter. I would like everyone to know that I picture Chadwick with the voice of James Veitch. And yes, the mad knight that use to guard the kitchens before the pear was Sir Cadogan. And, fun fact - I didn't intend for Tom to tell _anyone_ about being an orphan until in his later years of Hogwarts but Chadwick happened and if you've ever written before you know characters have a habit of just taking the plot where the hell they want to go. So this will be Chad and Tom's little secret for now.

Also, since I'm not making it a secret to the readers, just to Tom, Dumbledore was avoiding Tom for three reasons that combined freaked him out a bit too much- 1. Parselmouth, 2. Sorted into Slytherin, 3. His appearance of seclusion among his peers. It's setting off "Future Dark Lord" alarm bells in Dumbledore's head and because he is only Tom's teacher for a single class and not his head of house, he's not as aware of Tom's budding friendship in other houses. He'd be lying if he said he didn't think that Tom was using Mia and Tammy's friendship to appear normal, but watching him interact with Chadwick and Roswell at the table and how well he interacted with the other students in the snowball fight and how genuinely happy he appeared is kind of throwing Dumbledore off/making him wonder if he didn't calculate it wrong. They aren't going to be buddies any time soon, but Dumbledore won't be as hostile to him moving forward.

As always, this is something I'm doing in my spare time, but I do have all the chapter planned out up until the reboot of Empathetic, and a good bit already written out. If you want to support me or read more of my writing, I'd really appreciate it if you checked out my original works at StrongwindAcademy dot com, or on our WattPad, if that's your preference (wattpad dot com (/) user (/) strongwindacademy [remove spaces and parenthesis because ffnet is a dick about links]).


	9. First Year Blues: Never Mind,

Full Title: First Year Blues: Never Mind, I Don't Want the Extra Credit

With a name like Merrythought, one would think that the professor in question would have a personality of rainbows and sunshine. Maybe some pictures of cats or dogs in sweaters hanging on their office wall, the type of person who would put smiley faces or frowny faces next to grades. Perhaps one would imagine a person who had biscuits and chocolates in their office when students stopped in and grandmotherly smiles.

That person would be _wrong _.

Professor Merrythought was a ruthless taskmaster with no-nonsense for silly wand-waving or misfired spells, or roughhousing that was unprompted (and she meant at _her _prompting, _thank you very much _James Pruise, one of the Ravenclaw boys who had learned this the hard way when she petrified him and left him to stand in the corner of the room to watch the rest of the class). However, despite being the Head of Hufflepuff House, something that Tammy thoroughly enjoyed holding over him, she did not favor any of the houses in her teaching methods. She was equally harsh and constantly pushed the students to the ends of their ropes with her demands and requirements for maintaining their grades. Students were regularly stressed by her class, and more than once before finals had someone broken down in tears.

Tom loved _every _minute of it. Years of dodging the bullies at Wool's and having less than a favorable amount to eat meant he was the lightest on his feet in the class and had the best reaction time for dodging spells lobed at him. Merrythought was in the habit of having them substitute spells with rubber balls in class, and several times a month would make them spend half the class practice dodging and footwork because, in her words, " _it doesn't matter how many fancy spells you know or how strong you can cast them if you're dead because you didn't dodge a killing curse." _Tom was rarely ever hit and had managed to knock Nott in the face without consequence on a consistent basis, and these days were usually the highlight of his week. Merrythought had been an auror before she'd retired and became a professor at Hogwarts and had written several books on the art of self-defense. It was also lesser known that she was actually married to their Herbology Professor, which was an odd juxtaposition considering the older man was jovial and sweet and almost grandfatherly in a way, while Merrythought looked like she might strangle someone if they bothered her. Tom only knew of this from Septimus, who said Professor Beery had once excitedly shown him pictures of their grandchildren when he was serving detention in the greenhouses.

Currently, the woman was lecturing at the front of the classroom, which was not as common in Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was largely a practical class. With Spring Break behind them and finals looming on the horizon (_ "three months," _Lyall had groaned loudly the night before), she was beginning to review the material that they had learned throughout the year.

Tom was mostly paying attention, though occasionally he would realize he was spacing out when he would notice he'd drawn swirls in the corners of his parchment and he'd bite the inside of his cheek and forced himself to pay attention once more. A muggleborn name Carter Bates shared the desk with him and he was completely zoned out, sneakily reading a book that wasn't the Defence textbook.

Despite this, the class made it through her lecture with only one book thrown at Avery, who had fallen asleep and begun snoring, so Tom counted it a success. Given it was his last class for the day when the bell rang he packed slowly and only slightly smirked at Avery getting cornered by Professor Merrythought as he tried to practically run out of class. He was beyond grateful for the non-spillable ink that Professor Slughorn had gifted him, since he hadn't had any more incidents since winter break. While Tammy, Mia, Lyall and Chadwick would all be finishing their Astronomy class and heading to flying, he figured he'd head to the library in case Sable or Delaney decided they needed help, otherwise he'd work on homework until dinner.

"Mister Riddle, a moment please," Professor Merrythought called from the front of the room and Tom paused and looked to where she was leaning against her desk, Avery standing uncomfortably in front of her.

"Yes, ma'am?" Tom asked as he shouldered his bag and stepped forward.

"You spend your time studying with that little group in the library, correct?" She asked. Tom blinked and then slowly nodded. He didn't know how or why Marrythought new about them studying as a group, but perhaps she'd seen them at some point or another. "Good. How would you like to earn some extra credit?"

Tom perked at the notion. He didn't actually need it, he'd much rather Professor Dumbledore offer him extra credit in a class since he tended to have a harder time getting his transfigurations to stick, but he'd take what he could get. "Of course, Professor."

She gave an approving nod, "Mister Avery failed his last exam and if he fails the next one, I will be writing a letter home to his parents," Avery's ears burned bright red at this and he folded his arms over his chest uncomfortably. "Would you please take him along with you and go over the homework and the materials for the next test over the next couple of weeks?"

Tom gave a quick look to Avery and then took a deep breath and nodded his head. "Yes, ma'am." Not that he particularly _wanted _to, but it would look poorly if he said no, both rude of him as a fellow first year and as a house and dorm mate of Avery's. However, he didn't particularly want the grade Avery got, especially if he was such shite at Defense, to reflect on his own.

"Good, I expect your homework to be turned in _on time _and to get full marks, do you understand me, Mister Avery?" She demanded, and Avery nodded his head, still glaring sullenly at the ground. "Good. You're dismissed."

Tom turned and paused at the door to the class as Avery grabbed his bag and wondered if the boy would be even willing to accept any assistance after the verbal thrashing he'd just received, but the boy gave Tom a glare and joined him on the way to the library.

"Not. A. Word," Avery hissed a few minutes later as they finally hit the stairs. "Or I'll hex you."

"I didn't say anything," Tom said, raising an eyebrow.

"'Course not, you're not failing any classes now are you," Avery snapped, his brows furrowed in what Tom assumed was frustration. Or agitation that he was being forced to study with him.

"No," Tom conceded, "But I'm not great at Transfiguration- Baggley helps me with it usually."

Avery just huffed and they continued on in silence. Tom hoped and prayed Sable or Delaney hadn't stopped by, but both girls were there, sitting at their normal table and gave him a look when they saw Avery with him.

"Hello Miles," Sable said with a small smile. "How was it?"

Avery glared at her and Delaney gave him a sympathetic look as she pulled the chair next to her out a bit, "Merrythought's a bit of a tyrant, isn't she?"

Avery took the offering and flopping into the chair with his bag in his lap. "Right old bitch," he swore, pulling his textbook out of his bag. Tom wondered if he should explain the boy's presence or leave it be. He didn't particularly want to give the other boy any reason to complain to Nott and start-up more harassment from the other boy, so he decided to keep his mouth shut on the matter.

"I'm going to start on my Defense homework and prepping for the test," he said instead, looking at Sable and then Delaney. The fact that they were there meant they likely needed help on something, but it wasn't uncommon for him to try and finish homework the moment it was assigned.

"Good," Delaney said, sliding her chair over so she was closer to Tom, "I only just barely passed that last test, my mum wrote me and told me if I didn't get at least an Acceptable in all my classes she'll have me go stay with my grandmother over the summer."

"What's so bad about that, doesn't your grandmother have horses and live by that Wizarding town outside of Edinburgh?" Sable said with a sigh, "That would be nice."

Delaney scrunched up her nose and made a face as she untied a ribbon from her wrist and began braiding her inky black hair into a braid. "The horses are nice, I don't get to ride when we're in London nearly as much, but she spends a lot of time studying history and family lines and suggesting books for me to read the entire time."

"Sounds wonderful," Tom said, with only the tiniest bit of sarcasm. It did sound wonderful to him, he'd never ridden a horse and was mildly terrified he'd be kicked off of one the moment he tried, and spending time looking at family lines and reading dusty old books that hadn't seen the light of day in Merlin knew how long- that sounded like a dream come true.

"Anyways," Delaney said with a roll of her eyes and she tied the ribbon off at the end of the braid, "I can't believe she assigned us an essay, she hasn't done that in over two months."

"So we were overdue for one, is what you're saying," Sable said with a sigh, dipping her quill into her ink.

"It's rubbish," Avery finally said, also pulling his quill out. "The assignment doesn't even make any sense. _Detail ten ways to outmaneuver your opponent. Do not list spells of choice. _Don't give me that look," Avery snapped at Tom, who was raising his eyebrows, looking slightly judgemental of the other first year.

"Go on then if you know some off the top of your head," Delaney said, turning and poking him with her quill.

"Ducking, dodging," Tom said, raising his fingers as he counted them off and Delaney shoved him slightly.

"Show off," she grumbled with a small smile, "Keep going then."

"Not if you're going to assault me before I can even finish," he quipped back. "Besides, she just meant she didn't want us to list specific spells, we can still say doing something specific while doing a spell."

"What do you mean?" Avery asked with a frown, dipping his quill into the ink.

"She always says, outside of our neck and head, our most vulnerable spots are our knees , you could say you're aiming just about any spell there to knock them off center- and ducking and dodging are also both legitimate answers, you just have to expand a bit and just her words against her, no point in any spells if you get cursed or killed because you sat still instead of bobbing about."

Delaney was already scribbling down notes on her parchment, not starting her essay immediately, but that was normal for her, while he and Sable preferred to dive straight into the essay writing.

"You could be a barrister one day," Sable said with a smirk, already tying up her first paragraph. "You certainly know how to talk just so to the professors."

"Writing essays and reading things from the textbook is the easiest part," Tom said simply, waiting as the ink dried. After a day full of notes in his classes his right hand was beginning to cramp up and he switched the quill to his left hand and continued on.

"It's not," Avery retorted, "I'd rather spend all day using every bit of my patience and magic on practicing Charms and Transfiguration than trying to do all this running about and reading."

"I didn't say I'd _rather _spend all my time reading," Though arguably, that's what he was generally of a mind for, but that had more to do with the fact that books had always been a constant and calming companion to him, while people tended to be much more hit and miss, usually for the worse more often than not. "But it's physically the easiest."

There was scratching on parchment as the four began the assignment. "Couldn't you also use something instead of a shielding spell to block any spells?" Sable asked, running the tip of her quill over her nose in thought. "It's be like dodging or ducking but instead… I don't know, using something as a physical shield?"

"I don't see why not," Tom agreed. Sable didn't generally need help with her Defense homework since she did pretty well in the class, but she would usually work on it with Tom as they both helped Delaney. The group continued on, Avery peeking over at Tom and Sable's papers occasionally and Sable seemed to have more patience for the other boy than Tom had, so he let her take the lead. He was certain Avery would rather say he was getting help from Sable if anyone ended up asking anyways.

They continued on like this until shortly before dinner. By then, their homework that had been assigned earlier that day was done and Tom and Sable made a list of things Avery needed the most help on for the next test. Avery was the first to flee from the library the moment he was able, gathering his stuff and giving a quick thanks to the girls, ignoring Tom as he left.

"Ugh, they're so stupid," Delaney grumbled slightly as she finished slipping her books into her bag.

"Hm?" Tom questioned, looking over his shoulder at her. Sable was at her side, already walking slightly behind him.

"Miles, and Theon, listening to that pratt Preston," Delaney snipped, giving a loud sigh. "Miles didn't even thank you and you sat there with him all patient as can be that whole time."

"Sable worked with him more than me," Tom pointed out, pausing to step in time with them. "Besides, I'd rather them leave me alone if they're going to behave like a bunch of stray dogs."

"Yes, thank you Tom," Sable cut in, rolling her eyes and then giving her best friend a light glare, "I _did _spend more time helping him study, I'm glad someone noticed."

Delaney blushed. "Tom spends the most time of any of us helping the rest of us, he's the only one getting E's or up in every class."

"I nearly got an Acceptable in Transfiguration last term," Tom said, blushing at the praise.

"You're modest," Delaney said earnestly, grabbing his arm and squeezing it before releasing it. "Anyways, dinner, I'm starving and then I'm going to take a shower and sleep- I almost fell asleep in Defense as well, I couldn't blame Miles for nodding off-" Delaney and Sable slipped on ahead of him and Tom wondered how long Avery would hang around for studying, especially once he saw Tammy, Mia and the Gryffindor boys at the table the next day or on Thursday.

A/N: I'm sorry for posting a day late, I was very busy yesterday and I didn't even open my laptop. I had planned to post it at night once I got home from dinner, but I ended up passing out and then this morning was taken over my chores and meal prepping. It was easy to edit but felt so short after the insanity that was the last chapter. Tom is really good in all his classes, but the weird relationship with Dumbledore kind of throws him off and he's not infallible so he does need to have a subject he's not beating everyone else out in, otherwise it just feels bit unbelievable.

As always, this is something I'm doing in my spare time, but I do have all the chapter planned out up until the reboot of Empathetic, and a good bit already written out. If you want to support me or read more of my writing, I'd really appreciate it if you checked out my original works at StrongwindAcademy dot com, or on our WattPad, if that's your preference (wattpad dot com (/) user( /) strongwindacademy).


	10. First Year Blues: No Place Like Hogwarts

As it turned out, it took until the test in question for Avery to disappear from the study group. When he'd shown up and seen the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors he'd groaned and grumbled and made a huge show of either ignoring them or putting up with them. Tom thought he may have heard some fondness for Chadwick a couple of times in passing, but once the test was upon them and Avery passed with a halfway decent score, the only time he'd pop in was on Tuesdays afternoon when it was generally just the Slytherins. And even then it was only when he was quite desperate.

Tom only told Mia and Tammy about Merrythought's offer of extra credit, and it wasn't mentioned again because by then the rest of the professors had picked up Merrythought's mindset and was making them begin their revisions and studying for their first finals, marking the end of their first-year term. Which brought dread to Tom for a completely other reason from everyone else. When they were a month out and Professor Slughorn didn't come around asking if anyone would like to stay at Hogwarts for the summer holidays, Tom felt a lump in his stomach. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that they likely didn't let anyone stay after the end of the term since it would be a two and a half month break, but he still sought out his head of house and asked- nearly pleaded- if he could stay.

Of course, it was a resounding no. Professor Slughorn offered his sympathies but promised that none of the students were allowed to stay at Hogwarts between terms and that he would be required to head back on the Hogwarts Express, but not to worry, his guardians would be notified of the day and time to retrieve him from King's Cross. He also explained that either he or Professor Dumbledore would be by to deliver the funds for his school supplies for the next year.

Tom had little to no worry about his finals in comparison to this problem, and he didn't have anyone he could truly discuss it with in detail since everyone outside of his professors assumed he would be going home to see his nonexistent uncle in London. Except for one person.

"Question for you," Tom asked Chadwick one Saturday as the study group took a bathroom break, "One of my guardians is supposed to pick me up at King's Cross the day we get back."

"That's not a question," Chadwick said, still scribbling on a drawing of a dragon he'd started earlier.

Tom sighed and rolled his eyes, wanting to get through it before anyone came back to the table, "Yeah, I know, I wanted to know if we could tell everyone that you and your mum will be dropping me off at my uncle's."

Chadwick looked up from the drawing and tilted his head and then nodded. "Yeah, I suppose- you owe me though."

"Obviously," Tom agreed. "But let's make it double then. Apparently either Professor Dumbledore or Professor Slughorn will be by to bring me by Diagon Alley for my supplies for next year- but maybe I could go when you and your mum go, in case I see someone and they wonder why I'm off with a professor."

"Fair enough," Chadwick said, adding flames coming from the mouth of the dragon. "You have to stop by and visit though."

"What?" Tom asked, confused by the request.

"My house," Chadwick clarified, "I think my mum is worried that I'm not socializing enough," He said the word with a tinge of annoyance to it. "I think it would calm her out a bit if she saw I had someone I was actually communicating with instead of ignoring."

"I think I can manage that-" Tom had gotten on well with Chadwick over the winter break and continued on through the second semester, and it would be nice to have a place besides Wool's to be around at. "I'll get your address from you, you don't need to nip by mine, it's not exactly a great place."

"I imagine," Chadwick said with a look and tilted his head as Delaney slid back into her seat next to Tom. "Ah, so you didn't fall in the toilet Royston?" He drawled, making the Slytherin girl blush scarlet. Tom ignored them as the rest of the group came back and they went back to studying.

The rest of the year came and went without much to report. They studied, Quidditch was played, they took their finals and the Hufflepuffs won the Quidditch Cup. At the farewell feast, the Great Hall was decorated in blues and bronze, large Ravenclaw banners hanging above all the tables and around the room and Headmaster Dippet gave his end of the year speech and Tom ate entirely too much food.

Nott, Mulciber and Avery were too busy comparing their plans for the summer to pay him any attention that night and the next morning and Sable and Delaney gave him a small wave that morning at breakfast but otherwise left him be. By the time they were loading onto the carriages, he was already safe in a group with Mia and Tammy, as well as Lyall and Chadwick. The ride to the station felt much shorter than the boat ride to the school had been at the beginning of the term, though he was certain it had more to do with the nerves he'd felt taking that boat ride.

Once they pulled their trunks from the horseless carriages and got them loaded onto the train, Tom expected Lyall and Chadwick to drift off and find their own compartment, perhaps with a group of Gryffindors, but they didn't and instead the five of them found an empty one and claimed it for their own.

Tammy unlatched the wicker carry case for Kelly, releasing the loud white cat into the compartment and he kneaded Lyall's lap for a little before deciding Tom's was the best place to shed his fur, flopping haplessly about, demanded to be pet.

"You're lucky I'm wearing my khakis," Tom teased, scratching the cat under the chin.

"You're lucky he's too stupid to function," Tammy shot back, already busting out one of Tom's decks of cards she'd gotten him for Christmas. She shuffled them loudly and Kelly meowed as if offended by his master's insult.

The whistle sounded and the group paused as the train lurched, beginning its journey back to King's Cross. Tom wondered for a moment if the training stayed at the Hogsmeade station through the year or if it was used for anything else, but was quickly distracted by a game of exploding snap. He didn't even have time to dwell on the fact that Hogwarts was growing smaller and smaller in the distance until it disappeared from sight completely. He didn't think about how much he was going to miss the school until later that afternoon, with Kelly still on his lap and Lyall asleep on the chair next to him, Mia and Tammy leaning on each other as they drifted in and out of sleep.

It had been the best year of his life so far, and he only hoped, for probably the millionth time, that he wouldn't wake up to find that it had all been a dream.

**A/N:** Apologies again for posting late- I mentioned I was very busy last weekend, but it was more so this weekend, with Halloween coming up. I should be more free next weekend and up until Thanksgiving so I'll be on time until then- but a head's up that I will be on a cruise from November 29th (my birthday) until December 8th, so my plan is to make a post on Thanksgiving on the 28th, but then won't be able to post again until I get back on Sunday the 8th. I just wanted to give that heads up now. Also, this is, as of right now, literally the shortest chapter of the entire series. This is one of the only ones I wrote about four different things and everything felt so forced that I felt a general summary and short scene felt better overall, and I'll make up for it with the next chapter, which is much longer.

As always, this is something I'm doing in my spare time, but I do have all the chapter planned out up until the reboot of Empathetic, and a good bit already written out. If you want to support me or read more of my writing, I'd really appreciate it if you checked out my original works at StrongwindAcademy dot com, or on our WattPad, if that's your preference (wattpad dot com (/) user( /) strongwindacademy).


	11. Second Year Crushes: The Golden Goose

Tom didn't know if it was that he now had Hogwarts to look forward to, the fact that he was a wizard, or that John McBride and Harrison Denton had grown out of the orphanage and apparently ran off to join the King's Army, but he was having the best summer he'd had in a long time. Not that he'd come back with much fanfare, nor had he expected any really. Only one or two of the girls even acknowledged that he was home and the little kids barely remembered him. Billy and Jack and a couple of the older boys who hadn't quite aged out of the orphanage yet were all working through the summer and he was left largely alone during the day.

Once upon a time, he would have preferred this isolation and the calm silence, but having Mia and Tammy chattering by his side every day for the past year had spoiled him and he found himself helping Cook in the kitchen and Ms. Cole with chores to keep himself preoccupied. When the sun would set and the boys came back to the orphanage, Tom found himself most at ease, which was a huge change for the boy.

The rest of the boys didn't seem to truly know what to do with him- he was off at some fancy boarding school during the rest of the year and Billy still had his rabbit. With Denton and McBride gone no one seemed to gain anything from treating him or the younger boys like shit, so there was a kind of vacuum of power that Jack naturally filled in. And Jack was too calm and laid back to be like Denton or McBride.

Tom found himself gravitating towards the other boy when he got home from the grocer's every day and Jack showed him some more tricks for carving and told him about the day to day happenings at the grocers and in the market. Tom, in turn, told him about Hogwarts- nothing about the magic, of course, but told him about it being an old castle and that his roommates largely ignored him. About Mia and Tammy and even about how he'd pretended to have an uncle so no one would tease him or pity him for being an orphan. Jack reminded him a bit of Tammy and Mia. He was kind like Mia, and compassionate, like Tammy, and had the type of insight into people that both the girls tended to have.

And he did have his summer assignments. Luckily it was all written essays and with the other boys all out of the house during the day he was easily able to sprawl his books on his bunk and work on them in peace. Especially if he told the ladies of the house he was working on academic work, they'd keep the girls or any of the younger children from bothering him.

By the end of July, Tom realized he hadn't accounted for something- He needed to get his supplies from Diagon Alley. Professor Slughorn had said that either he or Professor Dumbledore would be along to deliver his supply list and the funds necessary, but if he went with them, and saw someone (besides Chadwick), they'd likely make the connection that his uncle was made up. And while he knew how to get to Diagon Alley, even if he had the funds, he didn't know if he'd be able to transport his supplies back without magic, which he wasn't allowed to do. And he couldn't exactly ask his guardians.

It was hard to believe both how fast and how long summer seemed to be moving along. It didn't feel like the beginning of August and it also felt utterly too long until he could get back to the castle. He still hadn't had a good opening to ask Mrs. Cole if he could nip off to Chadwick's. He'd asked once or twice before, but the woman had wanted a couple of the boys or herself to take him by and he hadn't asked again since.

One particularly hot August afternoon, he was standing in the kitchen helping Cook with the lunch dishes when he realized he heard Mrs. Cole talking to someone in the front room. He didn't think anything of it at first, especially since the postman usually stopped by around that time, but then he recognized the other voice and he dried his hands on a towel and hurried to the other room.

Professor Slughorn looked very odd to Tom if only because he was out of his normal robes he wore to classes and around the school and instead was squeezed into a dark grey suit that looks a bit stretched around the stomach. He was making small talk with Mrs. Cole who was eating up the charm.

"Hello Professor," Tom said dutifully, standing a little taller when he stopped beside Mrs. Cole and his Head of House.

"Good Afternoon Tom," Professor Slughorn replied cheerfully. He wished half the Slytherins would act, even if it was just an act, like their Head of House did. "Enjoying your summer? Did you start your homework yet?" The man asked with a wink.

"Yessir," Tom answered. "I've already finished it."

"There's a good lad," Professor Slughorn said, patting Tom's shoulders with a few heavy thumps, "I was just telling Miss Cole here that you're one of my best students, I don't think I've ever seen you fail a test or miss your homework, I wish half my students were as well behaved as you."

"And what do you teach at the school, Professir?" Mrs. Cole prompted, looking thoroughly impressed with the man.

"Mathematics," Professor Slughorn replied without missing a beat, and Tom realized he hadn't even thought of how to explain that one. "You must have been quite the tutor for Tom to be as good at his numbers as he is, ma'am."

Mrs. Cole blushed and waved a hand, "Oh, you're flatterin' me, Professir, now, are you here to take Tom along to pick up his supplies like Professir Dumbledore did last year?"

Tom swallowed and Professor Slughorn smiled and nodded, "Oh yes, well, not today, I wanted to confirm a time with you and Tom-"

"Professor," Tom interrupted, earning a look of annoyance from Mrs Cole and a quick glance from his Head of House, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I wondered if there's any way I could pick my supplies up with Chadwick- he and his mother invited me to go with them when they get theirs." The lie came out before he could even think about it, but it wasn't a half-bad one- Chadwick and his mother had invited him over when he'd last seen him on the platform, and this would give him a good excuse to go off with them and for no one at Diagon Alley to question why he was shopping with his Head of House, and not his 'uncle.'

"Well, I don't see why not," Professor Slughorn said, reaching into the jacket of his suit and pulling out an envelope and handing it to Tom. "It would actually save me a bit of time and a bit of coin, if you know what I mean, Mrs. Cole," He winked at the woman who giggled, "Go out to the shops and see something and have to pick it up, you know how it is."

"Thank you, Professor," Tom said, nearly sighing with relief. He opened the letter carefully and realized there was no money inside. Not that the coins would be easily stored in the parchment envelope, but he wasn't quite certain how he was to pay for his school supplies.

Noticing Tom's confused look, Professor Slughorn patted his shoulder again, "Now, only buy what's on the list, as I'm sure you know, and take your uniform in to make sure it still fits- the stores you went to with Professor Dumbledore will all have a tab for students in circumstances like your own and we'll handle the bill."

"Thank you, Professor," Tom repeated, folding the list back over. Professor Slughorn held out his hand and Tom took it, trying to mirror the tight grip as he shook the older man's hand.

"Of course, my boy, don't worry about a thing. And of course your ticket for the train is in there as well, September the first, as usual." The man said, turning and shaking Mrs. Cole's hand as well before drawing her in and kissing her on both cheeks, flustering the woman further.

"Have a good rest of your summer!" Professor Slughorn said as he bid his farewell. Tom waved at the man as Mrs. Cole held the door open for him before looking at Mrs. Cole, trying to decide how to best approach his request.

"I see that look, Tom," Mrs. Cole said, closing the door, "You know what I said about going across London by yourself, you need to take someone with you."

Tom frowned, "But everyone older than me is working, and by then it'll be too late." Tom pursued, following Mrs. Cole back to the kitchen.

"When one of the other boys comes back they can walk you to your little friend's house- or you could phone them and see if they can pick you up." Mrs. Cole said dismissively, "Or I'll run you by on the weekend when I'm in the market."

Tom paused in the doorway and frowned. Chadwick had given him his home address but not a phone number, and there wasn't a chance in hell he'd bring Mrs. Cole along to Diagon Alley. He spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between doing chores and trying to convince the older woman to let him out to wander through London on his own. However the woman would not be budged and by the later part of the afternoon, he'd managed to sweep and mop all three floors of the orphanage and rang out the laundry when Mrs. Cole was done washing it and began to hang it out on the lines to dry. He truly wondered if Mrs. Cole would even notice if he just said he was going to read up in his room and then left. After all, he didn't need to go to Diagon Alley immediately but did need to talk to Chadwick about planning to go with them.

"Stuck with laundry duty, eh?" A voice from behind the sheets asked and Tom finished clipping a sheet into place.

"Uh, yeah," He said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Jack ducked under one of the damp sheets and shoved his hands in his pockets. He still had his apron on from the grocer's and his sleeves on his shirt were rolled up and his hair brown hair was wet from what Tom assume was sweat. "Back from the grocer already?"

"Yeah, Mr. Klein said I'd been there long enough," The boy said, reaching down and grabbing a shirt from the basket. Tom took it from him and clipped it to the line. "Mrs. Cole said you need to go to a mate's house," Jack said, sliding his hands into his pockets, "One of your friends from your fancy school."

Tom nodded. "Yeah, I need to talk to him about going to get school supplies before the term starts." If Mrs. Cole was going to insist on having someone escort him to Chadwick's house, it wasn't so bad that it was Jack. Besides, he could probably ditch him at the door- right?

"Sure, you have his address?" Jack asked grabbing the empty basket up from the ground as Tom pinned up the last pair of trousers. Tom told him and Jack smirked, "Good Lord, that's not that far, but it's a decent walk. C'mon, we should leave before it gets dark."

Tom nodded his head in eager agreement and realized as they headed through the orphanage to tell Mrs. Cole they were leaving if he should change into something nicer. He only had some nice outfits and a suit for church services, outside of his uniforms, but it would look better than the khakis and stained white shirt he was wearing. Ultimately Jack convinced him it was a waste of time and Tom listened and followed him out the front gates after a short lecture from their guardian on being careful and to be back as soon as possible.

"She acts like I don't walk by myself to work every morning," Jack grumbled, biting a corner of his nail off. "Guess she's worried about her golden goose."

"What?" Tom demanded shooting a look at the older boy.

"You," Jack said, successfully peeling off the jagged nail. "Get into some fancy school, if you go missing or get snatched up or hit by a car your school would come asking questions- unlike the rest of us."

Tom felt his cheeks warm and he shook his head, "Unlikely, maybe if it were the rest of the students, but I'm just a nobody with no parents who happened to get good grades." While part of that was a lie, the rest was the truth. Sure Professor Slughorn might show up if he never got on the Hogwarts Express, but he doubted a whole lot of fuss would be made if he just disappeared. Mia and Tammy might try to make a bigger deal out of it, but they were just two twelve year old girls.

"Keep saying that, hotshot," Jack said, wrapping an arm around Tom's shoulder and pulling him in for a side hug as he ruffled and fluffed up Tom's hair. "If someone who isn't a tyke gets adopted it's going to be you- some fancy bloke who wants a smart kid who knows fancy words and how to do maths and can pick up different languages-"

"That's not going to happen," Tom said, ducking out of Jack's grasp and trying to flatten his hair. "No one is interested in any of the kids past three or four, even if they're smart."

"Fine, smart and handsome- Jeez you're really fishing for those compliments, Riddle," Jack said with a smirk, earning a look from the younger boy. "Besides, you said you had two girlfriends at your fancy school."

"Friends who are girls," Tom said, stressing the first and last words. "There's a difference." He didn't know what he was more flustered by, Jack's teasing or the implications that he'd date Mia or Tammy. He'd listened to the older students and their talks of arranged marriages, in some of the more extreme circumstances, or trying to find equal matches with other influential families, in the less extreme circumstances. Of which he was not from.

"Bloke like you is gonna get a line of them," Jack continued on, ignoring the indignant look Tom was giving him.

"You have a line of them," Tom shot back, earning a bemused look from Jack, "With Denton and McBride gone, Amy's been swooning for your attention along with the rest of the girls at Wool's."

"Yeah, I'm not interested in any of them," Jack said with a shrug of his shoulders, "They're all…." He trailed off and Tom gave him a look, waiting for him to continue. "You know."

"No," Tom shot back, "I don't."

Jack rolled his eyes and sidestepped a woman pushing a child in a stroller. "They're all like us, just kind of looking for better than Wool's. It's just something to distract themselves with before they can leave and get married to some rich bloke and have a pretty house with kids."

"Maybe they want the pretty house and kids to be with you," Tom said with a smirk, earning a gentle shove.

"Nah," Jack said, "I work at a grocer's and I'll probably see if I can get some work at the docks when I'm fifteen, I'll be one of those guys that will either work until I die or I'll be drafted and then die in this stupid war."

"There isn't going to be a war," Tom said, still frowning. "It's a bunch of nonsense, especially after what happened with the Great War-"

"Is this it?" Jack interrupted, pointing to a row of townhouses. "Ritzy."

'It's not "ritzy"," Tom said, looking around for one of the numbers to confirm they were at the right stoop. "Yeah, this is it. Thanks."

"Need me to wait around?" Jack asked, shoving his hands in his pockets, leaning against one of the low lying walls that wrapped around immaculate garden beds of flowers. Tom looked at the door and then back to the muggle boy and shook his head. "No, but thanks Jack, I appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it," The older boy said, freeing his hand from his pocket and reaching out to squeeze Tom's shoulder once. "I'll tell ole Cole that your mate's gonna bring you back. Make sure you don't' get in any trouble." Tom nodded and waited until the other boy was out of sight and around the corner to approach the seemingly ordinary door and knock. There were a few moments of quiet and Tom eyed the door, and the ordinary flowers on either side of the stoop. What if he'd gotten the address mixed up? Could a wizarding family live in such a normal looking house? He cleared his throat, uneasy and growing nervous and was about to knock again when he heard the locks on the door slide open and the handle turned.

Chadwick looked almost odd out of uniform, which he'd stayed in even as they disembarked from the Express. Tom was almost glad he didn't change because he would have looked out of place next to the other boy who was also in a dirty blue shirt and scuffed pants.

"Tom?" The boy asked, looking at him in confusion and then smiling, "Ah, so you didn't abandon me and mum. Great, I thought you'd ignore me as long as ya could."

Tom shook his head and stepped inside as Chadwick held the door open for him. "Nah, of course not- My guardians, her name is Mrs. Cole and she wouldn't let me come here without an escort- she said it was too far for me to walk by myself and I had to wait for one of the older boys to actually get off of work on time to bring me 'round."

"Next time Mum and I can just come by and get you," Chadwick said, closing the door behind him. Despite what Chadwick had said about his family's money trouble, the house was beautiful, There were framed moving images of the family hung throughout the hall, but little in the way of furniture crowding the entryway and the landing for the stairs.

"Mum's in the kitchen getting dinner ready, she was wondering who would be stopping by- we don't exactly get many visitors," Chadwick explained, running his hand over the back of his neck. His wild dirty blond hair had gotten longer and he looked like he's grown some- his face even looked slimmer and Tom wondered if he looked much different than he had when they'd ended the term.

Tom followed the Gryffindor to the kitchen, observing the home around him. It was nice, beautiful and clean, but he could see where there was less furniture than a house of this type would have, no cabinets showing off priceless possessions, no elaborate paintings outside of a few family portraits and non-animated landscapes.

"Mum painted those," Chadwick said, sounding a bit proud when he caught Tom looking over a scene of a cottage in a forest, surrounded by brilliantly covered trees. "Her and my grandmum were really good at it, some of the best are upstairs in the hall."

"Is that where you get your drawing ability from?" Tom asked, thinking back on all the sketches Chadwick would draw into the margins of his notes. Some of them were quite detailed and it was a bit soothing to watch him scribble away at the parchment with his quill.

Chadwick shook his head, "Nah, I'm not nearly as good as them, I just like to doodle."

"He's better at drawing with pencil and a quill than I am," Mrs. Chadwick said, emerging from the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel that was tucked into the apron tied around her waist. "I just like painting landscapes- it's soothing." She smiled, pulling Tom in for a quick hug, "I'm so glad you stopped by Tom, Chadwick's been quite bored here so far this summer. Usually, I can't keep him inside."

"I've gone outside," Chadwick said indignantly and his mother released Tom and pressed a quick kiss to her son's forehead. "Of course you have, the back garden has never looked better, love." She looked back at Tom and straightened, "Do you want to stay for dinner? It will be done soon."

"Uh, that would be great, ma'am, thank you-" The words were barely out of his mouth and the older woman was shepherding both boys into the kitchen area. It was a little tight, not nearly as big as the kitchen area they had at Wool's but Wool's was also an orphanage made for housing a horde of children, versus the smaller townhouse he was currently standing in. All of the appliances were older as well, looking of a similar type to the ones Cook had in their kitchen and there was a small round wooden table at the end of the room by a large window, looking out into the back garden.

"I made shepherd's pie, I hope you don't mind it," Mrs. Chadwick said happily, opening the door to the oven and checking on the food inside. "Just has a bit longer and it will be done- Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Mum, it's fine, he's fine," Chadwick said, clearly beginning to look uncomfortable.

"Nonsense, he just walked all the way over here," Mrs. Chadwick said, her hands on her hips, "Learn to be a better host, Keegan."

"Water is fine, ma'am," Tom said instead. His mouth did feel a bit dry but he didn't want to cause a fuss. The boys both took a seat at the small round table and Tom could see the back garden more clearly from it. It was similar to how the rest of the house looked so far, clean and minimalistic, there was an old wooden gazebo with some iron wrought furniture on it, but nothing fancy and a few flower beds that looked freshly weeded and trimmed.

"The garden does look pretty good, Chadwick," Tom complimented and before the other boy could reply his mother was there, setting down three glasses of water and taking a seat.

"Yes, I've been working a lot this summer and he's been spending his time keeping the place from falling apart- he's done marvelously." She complimented, beaming at her son. "How has your summer been, Tom?" She asked, looking at him expectantly.

"I haven't done much," Tom said with a slight shrug as he took his glass of water and sipped at it slowly. "I've already finished my homework and with most of the boys my age and older working jobs during the summer, I've been stuck doing a lot of chores and helping with the younger kids some."

"Well I'm glad you were able to make it by- I told Keegan that if we didn't hear from you in the next couple weeks we'd stop by and see if everything was alright." Mrs. Chadwick said with that gentle smile Tom kept seeing on her like she was worried about the world around her and wanted to take care of him. Chadwick, on the other hand, was giving his mom a look that clearly said he wanted her to shut up, even if he refused to voice it.

"Have you gotten your letter for next year yet?" Tom asked, and Chadwick shook his head, "Professor Slughorn brought mine by this morning and I wanted to ask if I could go with you both to pick up my supplies." He left off the part about wanting to do so since shopping with Slughorn might imply or clue in some people on Tom's living arrangements or less-than-desirable circumstances, but he figured Chadwick would catch on that much. Plus, he didn't want Mrs. Chadwick to feel he was using her- while he was in a small way, he would much prefer her and Chadwick's company to Professor Slughorn. The man wasn't entirely awful, but Tom had no doubt he'd spend the entire time talking about himself and explaining how he knew every other person they saw on the street and in the shops.

"Of course you can, dear," Mrs. Chadwick said, looking excited, "I have the weekends off, so once Chadwick receives his we'll make a plan to head over to Diagon Alley, just the three of us- I'm sure Keegan will be happy to have a friend along this time around- he was very nervous last year."

"I was not," Chadwick retorted, looking horrified by his mother's betrayal.

"I was," Tom shot back, smirking at the other boy, "It didn't help that Professor Dumbledore unsettled me- just a bit," He admitted.

"Try having him for your Head of House," Chadwick replied with a huff, leaning his elbows on the table as he slouched forward, "He's a bit barmy, once he gave a detention to someone for throwing a crackling-whizz across the common room, but when the quidditch team won their first game of the season he didn't bat an eye when one of the sixth years set off an entire box of fireworks."

"Professor Dumbledore is a charming man," Mrs. Chadwick said simply, "He may be a bit mad, but he's brilliant." She paused and pushed herself up from the table and went to check on the shepherd's pie and Chadwick gave Tom a look.

"I'll probably get my letter in the next couple of days if you got yours today, even if it was hand-delivered. How does this Saturday sound for Diagon Alley?" Chadwick asked, sounding a bit more like himself. Tom wondered if he was nervous having a schoolmate over to his home, or if it was that Tom, in particular, knew more about his home life than the rest of their friends. He supposed it was a bit of Column A and a bit of Column B.

"Saturday sounds great," Tom agreed readily, "Would you and your mom be able to stop by Wool's so I don't have to arrange someone to get me there?"

"I think we can manage that," Mrs. Chadwick said, brightly, pulling the pie from the oven and resting it on the stovetop as she went to pull plates out of the cupboard. "We'll need all the standard supplies for the second years, and both of you will need to have your robes looked at. Keegan's already grown two inches this summer and the robes were already looking short on him before that- and Tom you look like you're shooting up too." Tom smiled as the woman carried on, making a list out loud for them of the things they'd need to do and what shops they'd need to see first.

Much like the year before, Tom was greatly looking forward to his trip to Diagon Alley.

**A/N:** I'm sorry for the late post (again). It's been kind of insane in real life for me, I was out of town on Saturday and forgot to edit and post and by the time I remembered it was Sunday night and I wanted to double-check it in the morning with fresh eyes. This chapter was supposed to be entirely different (in the original plan), but when I ended up writing Chadwick in as a confidante it effected how this would have played out. I think the story's better off for it though. Another Diagon Alley next chapter!

As always, this is something I'm doing in my spare time, but I do have all the chapter planned out up until the reboot of Empathetic, and a good bit already written out. If you want to support me or read more of my writing, I'd really appreciate it if you checked out my original works at StrongwindAcademy dot com, or on our WattPad, if that's your preference (wattpad dot com (/) user( /) strongwindacademy).


	12. Second Year Crushes: Gryffindon't

Diagon Alley was just as wonderful as Tom imagined, if not better- though he suspected that was due to the fact that he wasn't literally vibrating with excitement this time around and overwhelmed with everything he was seeing. He and Chadwick were able to make bad jokes and quips to each other about everything in the shop windows and at least once Chadwick's mother overheard him make a comment about another witch's attire being a bit too shrub-like and it earned him a quick smack on the back of his head.

This time in, they went by Gringotts first, and Tom and Chadwick hung around the front while Mrs. Chadwick went inside to withdraw some money.

"She's been working cleaning houses for some muggles," Chadwick explained while they stood there. "I guess she's not quite as panicked about money for school supplies this year, she didn't look as stressed as she did last year, but we also don't need to buy quite as many things, I suppose."

"That's good to hear," Tom said, and he meant it. Mrs. Chadwick seemed like a lovely woman and was only ever nice to him in the interactions they'd had. She'd even spent a few minutes chatting up Mrs. Cole when she'd stopped by to get him from Wool's and smoothed his hair back when Jack had ruffed it up.

"Alright boys," Mrs. Chadwick said as she walked out the doors and stepped up beside them along the wall. "Why don't we go by Threads and Needles to get both your robes looked at and then while the madam there works we can go through the rest of your list?" Tom and Chadwick followed her towards the same secondhand robe shop he'd been in the year before with Professor Dumbledore. Instead of shaking nervously as he stood on a stool this time Chadwick tossed balled up yarn at his face when the madam wasn't paying attention and asked the witch is she could charm his Gryffindor robes to be Slytherin green instead. A couple of older wizards came in when they were nearly finished and they went quiet at Mrs. Chadwick began chatting them up, but Tom and Chadwick kept elbowing either other through it all.

"You two," Mrs. Chadwick said fondly, patting both of their heads, "Okay then, what do you want to pick up first?"

"Flourish and Blotts is closest," Chadwick pointed out, his hands in his pants pockets and the group headed towards the old bookstore. Unlike Threads and needles which had been empty, Flourish and Blotts was quite crowded. Apparently a portion of the store had recently been renovated and many adults were hanging around, commenting on the newly opened area that was nestled under the stairs that led up into the second floor of the shop and Tom and Chadwick broke off to explore while Mrs. Chadwick went to ask the man at the counter for assistance in gathering two sets of secondhand school books.

Having had the Hogwarts library to see all the ancient texts the previous year, Tom as vaguely more interested in the newer books that he didn't even know existed and began looking through the shelves with the fine leather and paper binders that were glossy and new. Chadwick was pulling the occasional book of a shelf and opening them to random pages to read excerpts, complete with voices, cause Tom to snicker uncontrollably.

"I found a snake and a lion!" A voice boomed loudly behind them and suddenly Chadwick was lifted off his feet with a shout of protest and Tom blinked and flinched away from his friend's flailing legs.

"Put me down you prat!" Chadwick snapped, struggling out of the taller boy's hold and Tom stared in confusion as the older boy set Chadwick down and ruffled his hair.

"You're not going to introduce me to your friend?" The boy asked, scratching his hand through his short black hair. "Honestly I can't believe Aunt Diana didn't tell us you were coming to Diagon Alley today- we could have planned to meet up for lunch and shop together."

Chadwick was still openly glaring at the other boy, his eyes narrowed and the dark-haired boy let out a loud sigh and held his hand out for Tom. "Honestly, he acts like a wet cat sometimes. Monty Potter, Gryffindor, third year, et cetera."

"Monty!" Mrs. Chadwick said excited, grabbing the boy in a tight hug, "Oh love, I haven't seen you in ages-" She gushed, patting his head and straightening his shirt, talking excitedly with the Gryffindor.

Tom shot Chadwick a confused look and the boy nudged himself away from his mother and the other boy, "My cousin- he's a prat."

"I thought your mum's sister lived in the states?" Tom questioned, happy more people were moving in the fill the gap, blocking them from the sight of Mrs. Chadwick and her nephew.

"She does- but that's her younger sister, my aunt Margaret- My Aunt Josie lives here in London with my uncle and their sons, but they're busy being part of the high-society purebloods, and mum married my dad and had me so-"

"They ignored you," Tom finished, looking over his shoulder but Mrs. Chadwick and Monty were still out of sight.

"Eh, for the most part, Aunt Josie's always been nice, but she kind of just ignored my mom when she needed help up until she was certain I was going to be a wizard and not a squib so…" Tom knew that look. He held it against his aunt and uncle that they didn't step in and at least try to help his mother when she'd been struggling. Tom could understand it, even if to a lesser degree.

"And your cousin?" Tom asked. He wondered if Chadwick just couldn't stand the boy or if he was of a similar mindset to his parents.

Chadwick shrugged, "He's just an annoying idiot, like a dog that's too stupid to kick out." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Come on, I hope it's my aunt here and not my uncle, I can't stand him-"

Tom followed Chadwick back through the bookstore to where Mrs. Chadwick was still standing with Monty and another woman who was clearly her sister. She had the same general face shape and nose, but her hair was slightly darker and pinned in a tight bun at the back of her head.

"I'm glad you're both doing well," The woman was saying, "Monty got his grades in earlier this week, he's brought them up, I've been meaning to send an owl to ask how Keegan's year was, and about your visit to Margaret."

"Keegan's been doing very well," Mrs. Chadwick said excitedly, patting his shoulder and he paused to stand beside her, Tom on his other side. "Having trouble with a bit of wandwork but got very good grades all the same-"

"Mom," Chadwick practically hissed, but she ignored him.

"And Charlie's gotten accepted into that position with the Ministry," The woman, Aunt Josie or Mrs. Potter or whatever she was supposed to be called, said, smiling proudly. "Henry didn't even have to put in a good word about it for him, they picked him right up when he applied."

"Cause they saw his last name," Chadwick quietly growled, low enough that no one but Tom seemed to hear.

"How wonderful," Mrs. Chadwick said, "Goodness I remember when he was just toddling around and now he's an adult on me- Good Lord, I'm getting old." She took a breath and looked down, realizing full that the two boys had rejoined them. "Have you met Tom yet?" She asked, patting Tom on his shoulder as she moved both the boys in front of her proudly, "He's one of Keegan's friends, Keegan said he got all O's in his classes."

"Is that so?", said Mrs. Potter, looking only mildly interested.

"Not quite," Tom said, "Two Exceeds Expectations, one in History of Magic and one in Transfiguration."

"Still better than any students I know," Mrs. Chadwick said proudly and Tom blushed at the praise.

"Are you about done with your shopping, Di?" Mrs. Potter asked and Mrs. Chadwick shook her head, "Oh no, just started in fact, took the boys to get their robes fitted and came straight here."

"Pity then," Mrs. Potter said in a way that Tom knew wasn't actually a pity but perhaps relief. "We've just finished- we're headed to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch if you'd like to join us."

"Oh no, thank you though, I'll get the boys through the rest of their shopping and we'll get something on our way out, but it was wonderful to see you," Mrs. Chadwick said cheerfully, reaching in for a hug which Mrs. Potter hesitantly returned.

"See you at the platform," Monty said, inclining his chin at Chadwick, who simply returned a tight-lipped smile and a slight nod.

Tom gave them his best fake-friendly smile that he could muster as the pair disappeared towards the exit for the shop. Chadwick's tight smile quickly turned into a scowl, and Tom just barely caught the sight of Mrs. Chadwick's bright smile falter, her eyes looking sad again, the wrinkles by her eyes seeming more pronounced.

Before Tom could say anything she clapped her hands together. "Alright boys," she said, smile back full force. "Books are acquired, we need to run by and restock on stationary, quills and parchment, make sure both your bags don't need any mending," She continued rattling off the list of their shopping and Tom and Chadwick followed closely behind her, each taking a bag of their books from the bookshop attendant. Tom worried for a moment that she'd attempted to pay for his, but the attendant handed him a receipt with a scribbled signature with the instruction to give it to his Head of House when he headed back to school.

"Are you excited to head back to school, Tom?" Mrs. Chadwick questioned when he held the door open for her and Chadwick at the stationery store.

"Yes, ma'am," Tom replied earnestly. "I miss Hogwarts."

"It's one of my happiest memories as well," she said fondly, "I felt so bad leaving Keegan behind during Christmas last year but I'm glad you and he were able to spend it together."

Tom wondered just how much Chadwick had told his mother about anything, so he just nodded his head, "It was good to have him around too, most of Slytherin house had gone home." He didn't feel the need to mention that they'd all gone home because he had no doubt she would be upset by the notion when in fact Tom had been quite excited about it.

"Aunt Josie and Uncle Henry could have invited me to spend it with them, but we know how they feel about letting filthy half-bloods in their immaculate home," Chadwick complained bitterly, picking imaginary fuzz off his shirt.

"Keegan," Mrs. Chadwick hissed in warning looking suddenly cross, "You will not speak about your aunt and uncle that way."

"Why? They talk about me that way," He spat back and Tom wondered if he could sink into the wall and just walk out of Diagon Alley and get back to Wool's by himself. He'd heard plenty of adults fight before but he'd never actually witnessed one between a child and their parent. A few of the older kids at Wool's would occasionally get in spats with Mrs. Cole, but never in a manner that felt this personal. She was their guardian, not a mother or even a family member. Her goal was to keep them alive, not happy.

Tom stepped away and pretended to intently examine a set of quills, Mrs. Chadwick and her son still bickering by the entrance and after a few minutes, Chadwick broke off and came over to him, standing in silence while Tom moved through and looked at the stationery. Tom only shot him a look a few times, wondering what he should say, if he should say anything at all, but ultimately decided against it. He wasn't certain what else was said when they were arguing in hushed tones, or if they were still miffed at each other or what, but by the time they were leaving the stationery store, Chadwick was perking up and He and Tom convinced Mrs. Chadwick to let them stop by the pet store to see the animals.

This time around, Tom decidedly ignored the tanks the snakes inhabited and spent his time cooing at the little owls instead.

A/N: This is for all the people who kept asking if xyz random person in the background is fleamont potter. Here's the idiot of the hour, my son, Monty Potter. Also, a couple of people thought Chadwick was Fleamont based on the description of fluffy hair in the Diagon Alley chapter, so I wanted to let them know I saw those comments and I chortled. Also to note, to some degree all the half-blood and pure-blood wizards are related. I made a family tree for all of them with over 2,000 people currently on it and yeah, it's a bit intense.

The potters are not immune to the pureblood problems and being a Gryffindor does not mean you are automatically a "good" person, which I wanted to reflect here. Notes on Henry Potter (Fleamont's dad) say he's very Pro-Muggle but I decided to take it in a sort of condescending way, like one would protect an animal, not that he's down for wizards/witches marrying with muggles. It's just my take on it to make everything more interesting and diverse.

As always, this is something I'm doing in my spare time, but I do have all the chapter planned out up until the reboot of Empathetic, and a good bit already written out. If you want to support me or read more of my writing, I'd really appreciate it if you checked out my original works at StrongwindAcademy dot com, or on our WattPad, if that's your preference (wattpad dot com (/) user( /) strongwindacademy).


	13. Second Year Crushes: Wartime Uncertainty

"_Hitler rejected the French Prime Minister's suggestion that there should be direct negotiations between Germany and Poland and emphasized that he could no longer tolerate the existing situation in Poland_." Jack was reading from his bunk, the newspaper folded over as he read aloud to the rest of the boys in the room while Tom double-checked his trunk, making sure everything was packed gently. He was only half paying attention to what the boy was saying, tuning out some as Jack stumbled over some of the larger words, like "communiqué" and "terrorization."

"_In Warsaw, the city is already preparing itself for war. Trenches are being dug, power stations sandbagged and people have started to carry gas masks around with them-_"

"This is complete shite," Billy complained from his bed, his rabbit curled happily on his stomach as he stroked it. "They already did this war nonsense and they lost, why would they try something like it again?"

"Because adults are stupid?" Jack grumbled from his top bunk above Billy. "Hold on, it's almost done, let me finish- _Danzig remains the flashpoint of Polish-Nazi conflict; four more Polish officials have been arrested and last night bands of Nazis attacked Polish shops in the city and smashed their windows. Growing international tension was reflected in Whitehall today with Ambassadors and Dominion High Commissioners arriving for talks at the Foreign Office. While in Downing Street the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, had talks with the acting Leader of the Opposition, Arthur Greenwood and Sir Archibald Sinclair, leader of the Liberal party. At about 5.30 pm, Mr. Chamberlain drove to Buckingham Palace where he stayed for an hour and a half and brought the King up to date on the latest international developments._"

"Do you think there will be a war, Jack?" one of the other boys, George Hobbs, asked. He was sitting on the floor by the open window, trying to catch the feel of a breeze. Tom perked his ears, curious how the older boy would respond, but it was quiet for a few moments.

"Maybe," he finally said shortly, folding the paper over. "People have wars all the time though, it doesn't mean it'll be like the great war. Besides, that's all the way over in Germany, you don't need to worry about it." He paused and chucked the folded up newspaper in George's direction, but it unfolded halfway down from the bunk and fluttered to the ground in an undignified manner. "Right you lot, lights off, Tom has a train to catch and I have work in the morning."

There was grumbling from the rest of the boys and Tom triple-checked his trunk before he crawled into bed. Sleep didn't come easy for Tom. it was still hot, for one, and he had to lay on top of his blanket to get anywhere close to comfortable. He was also excited for the train the next day and getting back to Hogwarts. Mrs. Chadwick was going to pick him up on the way and bring him to King's Cross with her son and see them off. It was so vastly different from the year before, when he'd stared longingly at the parents dropping their own children off, waving goodbye. Or how he'd been so anxious, uncertain about what everything would be like and now he knew exactly what it would be like and he couldn't wait to get back to his own real home. It helped too to know people getting there. He couldn't wait to see Mia and Tammy again and was already planning to try and grab the same cabin that they'd been in the year prior. Chadwick had explained that he and Lyall and a couple of other first-years had shared one, so he anticipated that they might be roped in as well.

There was a soft thump on the wood floor and Tom turned his head slowly in time to see Jack climbing from his bed and headed to the open window. He blinked and waited until he watched the older boy climb outside to roll out of bed and follow him. They weren't supposed to be out on the roof, and once Denton had been given a good beating for playing around on the shingles just outside. Tom was thin but strong and while there was a split second of worry as he hoisted himself out the window and onto the roof, it was gone when Jack grabbed his upper arm and pulled him up beside him.

"Couldn't sleep either?" The older boy asked, settling down slowly onto the shingles, reclining back on his elbows. He didn't seem very surprised and Tom shook his head. "Worried about the paper, or just excited for tomorrow?"

To be honest, he hadn't put much thought into anything Jack had read from the paper. It felt too surreal to be acknowledged, not when Tom was heading back to Hogwarts. He remembered the pictures that their teachers had shown them in school of the Great War and Tom couldn't imagine anything like that, not again. "Mostly excited," Tom said truthfully.

Jack let out a deep breath and gave a lazy smile, looking up at the sky. Tom felt his cheeks flush but ignored it and followed his gaze. It was a clear night and he could see stars, not as many as he'd be able to see when he was at Hogwarts, but it was still a pretty sight.

Beside him, Jack inhaled like he was going to say something and Tom started and looked at the other boy, but he was still looking at the sky. "What?" Tom asked, stretching his legs out in front of himself.

"Hm…" Jack shrugged and then finally said, "Do you ever miss this? When you're at school, I mean."

"Wool's?" Tom said incredulously. He wondered if Jack had gone mad. "Not a second."

"Ain't you said it's way out in the country yeah?" Jack said, still staring up at the sky, "I lived with my aunt for a bit when I was younger before she died too- I hated the country, it was so quiet, the only good part was the stars, but there were no big buildings, no alleyways or cars even, just sheep and horses and cows forever and ever."

"I think I like the quiet of the country more than London," Tom said easily, picking at his nails. He didn't know how to easily explain it, but sometimes it felt like London was squeezing him tight, too many people watching him, too close together. Hogwarts didn't have any sheep or cows, but he had a feeling he'd prefer their company any day over the overcrowded streets of London.

"It's boring there," Jack said quietly, laying back and putting his hands under his head. "Have you ever thought about leaving England?"

Tom furrowed his brows and frowned at the older boy. "I mean, my school is in Scotland," he teased lightly, earning him a nudge in the side.

"No, I mean like- Paris or New York. I could get a job on a ship and never have to be here ever again." Jack sounded wistful and Tom shrugged. "I could travel back and forth an' not stay anywhere if I didn't want."

"I don't think Paris or New York would truly be any different from London," Tom said honestly, folding his arms and leaning forward to rest his arms and chin on his knees. "People are the same everywhere."

"Even at your school?" Jack asked, looking away from the sky and back to Tom.

"Yeah- don't get me wrong it's nice to have friends, but there's still plenty of people just like Denton and McBride," Tom explained. He knew people had friends, but it had never been something he thought he'd have for himself, not until Tammy and Mia grabbed onto him and didn't let go. Tom liked to think he was a fairly objective person, but now that he knew what it was like to have friends, it felt even more balanced. There were bad people and good people. You just had to spot them.

"Maybe I'll join the army too," Jack said quietly. "Blokes in the army get to travel."

Tom frowned and looked over to the older boy. "You could get killed. Especially if we go to war with Germany."

"Would that really be so bad?" Jack asked, earning another disapproving look from Tom. "Yeah you're right, I gotta find that pretty girl to have pretty kids with, right?" He winked and Tom flushed again. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, slowly pushing himself to his feet as Jack laughed at him.

"I'm headed back to bed," Tom said shortly, climbing slowly back to the window. He may have been a wizard but he had no doubt he still had the ability to fall to his death, or at the very least break several bones in the process.

"Hey," Jack said and whistled. Tom paused and looked back at him. "If I don't see you tomorrow, have a good year, yeah?"

Tom nodded, "Yeah, you too, Jack." He slipped back in through the windows and laid down, trying to ignore the knot he felt in his stomach. He hadn't been worried about the war before, but for some reason, the idea that Jack might try and run towards one didn't bring him any comfort.

* * *

The next morning went smoothly Chadwick and his mother came by and gathered him and his belongings up and took a bus to King's Cross, much to Cook's relief as she was busy with other errands. Mrs. Chadwick used a spell when Mrs. Cole wasn't looking and made his trunk lighter and Tom was able to load it just fine by himself onto the bus.

There was a commotion by the newsstand when they headed into King's Cross, but Mrs. Chadwick was straightening their collars and hurrying them along to the barrier. Like he had been thinking about the night before, so much was different this year compared to the year before. He hadn't woken up at the crack of dawn, instead, he'd been woken up by Mrs. Cole yelling at him that breakfast was ready and if he stayed in bed he wouldn't get any. Instead of Cook dropping him off obscenely early, he arrived with the Chadwicks at half till. Unlike last year when he'd been the very first on the platform and had watched every other student arrive, this year they came through the barrier to a wall of bodies and a line of students and their parents getting their luggage loaded before climbing aboard. Instead of sitting nervously by himself, within five minutes of arriving Mia was screaming loudly, having already arrived and grabbed them a cabin- the same cabin they'd taken last year from the looks of it.

Tom raised a hand and waved back and Chadwick smirked and stuck his tongue out at the girls.

"Be nice to your friends, dear," Mrs. Chadwick said, as they neared the front of the line to get their luggage loaded on. "Now, you behave yourself, if Professor Dumbledore owls me to tell me you've toppled all the shelves in the library again-"

"It's not my fault my wand doesn't listen to me," Chadwick grumbled as his mother folded his collar again, plucking some lint from his shirt before turning to give Tom the same treatment.

"Keep an eye on him, Tom," Mrs. Chadwick said, still fidgeting with his hair, combing it out of Tom's eyes.

"I will ma'am," Tom promised, smirking at Chadwick who rolled his eyes.

The warning whistle went off just as one of the men grabbed up their luggage and loaded it on the train and Mrs. Chadwick grabbed both the boys in a tight hug before pushing them gently towards the train. "Be safe, do your homework, have fun!" Mrs. Chadwick called, waving at the pair as they climbed on and Tom waved back as Chadwick blushed when his mother blew him a kiss.

"C'mon," the Gryffindor grumbled, holding his smaller bag close as they slid past some of the older students to head towards the compartment they'd seen the girls in earlier. He slid the door open and saw several people he hadn't expected already inside.

Mia and Tammy were there, and so was Lyall, but Marla and Carter Bates from Ravenclaw were also there, as well as Roswell Pratt, the other first-year boy who'd been at Hogwarts during winter break. Marla was sitting on the floor in front of Mia as the Hufflepuff braided her auburn hair and Tammy was shuffling her exploding snap as Roswell and Carter looked at Tom and Chadwick a bit nervously.

"Bit crowded yeah?" Chadwick grumbled, shoving Lyall over so he could sit with the rest of the boys around the unfolded table. "Good thing the rest of the girls aren't here."

"Who are the rest of the girls?" Marla asked curiously, but before anyone could answer her eyes brightened, "Oh yeah, those two Slytherin girls you study with, right? Delany and- I can't remember the other one's name."

"Sable," Tom said, sliding his backpack into the overhead and sitting down in one of the remaining seats by Mia and Marla.

"Oh right, Sable," Marla said, smiling and turning her head only slightly as Mia's hands were still holding her in place by her hair, "They're okay, I had a couple classes that I did homework with them," Marla said, and then raised a hand to feel her braids as Mia finish her work. "Thanks!"

"Don't mention it," Mia said happily.

"Oye Mia," Tammy said, dealing the cards out on the table, "Chadwick needs his hair braided too."

Chadwick glared and shoved the other girl slightly but Tammy was snickering and just shook her head. Kelly yowled loudly as she climbed into Tom's lap, butting his head repeatedly against Tom's hands until he relented. Tom was content to pet the white cat while Mia rambled on about what she and Tammy had been up to that summer and the rest of the boys and Tammy began playing cards. Marla had dug a book out of her bag at some point and was paying more attention to it than anyone else in the compartment, but Tom could understand that.

The train had already departed from the station and the movement in the hall outside had slowed down when the compartment door slammed open. A tall, older boy with dark brown hair and ice-blue eyes was standing in the doorway with a rolled-up newspaper in his hands.

"Have you seen this?" He demanded hotly, and Tom stared in confusion because he had no clue who the older boy was, but then he chucked the newspaper at Lyall, who began unrolling it. It wasn't the Prophet, but a muggle newspaper, surprisingly, and Tom could make out the large words scrolled across the top; "_GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN POLAND - WARSAW BOMBED: MANY REPORTED KILLED_".

"Is that a muggle paper?" Chadwick asked, raising an eyebrow at it as Lyall and Tom began reading the paper's contents.

"Yeah," the older boy said, sounding- well, not quite annoyed but more confused, upset like he was angry about the paper but not sure why. "One of the other prefects grabbed it at King's- the Prophet has a small piece about it, but nothing else- one of the seventh years said her father said that we're likely going to send a group of veterans from the Great War over to try and help the wizarding communities evacuate."

There was a beat of silence and Tom let Tammy rip the paper from his hands so the girls could pour over it and Lyall was staring in confusion at the older boy- "But- does that mean that Dad will have to..?" He trailed off, and Tom realized the older boy did look quite a bit like Lyall, so he was likely family- either a brother or a cousin.

"I don't know- I'll owl them tonight when we get to the castle and see what's going on- I wonder if they'll say anything at the Welcoming Feast?" He leaned against the frame of the door, arms folded and there was movement out in the hall- other students running about spreading the news to the rest of the train.

"Randolf!" A girl- already in uniform sporting Ravenclaw colors- bumped into the older boy, "Do you still have my paper?" She looked a bit nervous as well, and two other girls hovered behind her.

"Yeah- just letting my brother and his friends take a look," Randolf said, gesturing his head toward Mia, Tammy, and Marla, all still reading through the article.

As they finished, Mia rolled the newspaper back up and held it out to the older Ravenclaw, "Sorry-"

"No, no, you're fine, I just didn't want to lose track of it- I don't know if anyone else managed to grab one before they sold out at the station," The older girl explained, taking back the paper, "Also because it was a muggle one-"

"I'm popping back over to Lloyd, yeah?" Randolf said, giving Lyall a pat on the shoulder before stepping back out of the cabin, "It'll be alright."

The door slid shut and the carriage was quiet, the game of exploding snap forgotten. They only started talking when Carter and Chadwick both prompted them to explain what the article said, and even then it was more subdued, with a gloom hanging over them. It stayed that way through the rest of the ride.

* * *

A/N: Obviously I didn't post the last few months so I feel like I owe you an explanation because I don't want you to think I'm beginning to pay less attention to the story or about to abandon it. I have clinical depression and anxiety, which I normally manage fine (as fine as you can at least), however, over the summer my family found out my dad has been cheating on my mom. I don't live at home but my little sister, who had just started high school at the time, does, so a lot of my time has been helping my mom carpool her to school and softball, and checking on my mom in my downtime and on my lunches. My brother, the middle child, is also struggling with college and living at home while this is going on and it's just a lot. It didn't become as big of a thing again until November, because to make a very long story short, my mom had forgiven my dad and they were going to therapy and trying to work it out and over a couple of weeks+ it blew up and yeah. My birthday was also in this time, which is the same birthday of my grandfather who recently passed a couple of years ago, plus then Christmas but with my dad moving out and in with his mistress who is harassing me and my mom and trying to pretend she's my little sister's new mom is just- ughhhh.

I only say this to explain that in addition to the normal struggle of my clinical depression and anxiety, my emotional and mental resources are depleted. I plan to still post as I'm able, but it won't be on a weekly basis, since I am more focused on keeping my actual original content over on Strongwind Academy updated weekly, and while I love this and want to finish it and eventually circle back to Empathetic- fanfiction will almost always take a back burner to my original work.

To make it all up to you, I actually combined two shorter chapters together since they flowed pretty well anyways.

I have the links to the articles that I quote from but because FF is shit at linking- search up my AO3 account, you'll find them in the notes on this chapter.

And, IF YOU THOUGHT YOU LYALL WAS THE ONLY ONE GETTING THE WOLF MCWEREWOLFSON NAME, YOU THOUGHT WRONG.


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